Innovation: Miracle Cell

Format: VHS Runtime: 60 minutes Series: Innovation Closed captioned: No Described Video: No

A young mother, the victim of a car accident that has left her paralyzed, travels to Portugal to undergo a radical treatment. Adult stem cells will be harvested from her nose, amplified, and then injected into her spine. The hope is that the cells will renew and heal the spinal cord, and give her back some feeling and utility. Stem cell therapies, like this one, hold both great promise and great controversy. But just what is stem cell therapy and why is it such a divisive issue? Miracle Cell goes to the front line of regenerative medicine to follow spinal cord and heart patients undergoing stem cell treatments and track their recovery in the months that follow. This is just the tip of the iceberg in a promising but controversial field with the potential to revolutionize medicine as we know it.