Spinal injury patient hopes to walk after trial haltedRSS Feed

A pioneering stem cell trial has been halted, but one spinal injury patient still hopes the treatment will help her to walk again.

Katie Sharify is one of just five spinal cord injury patients in the US who received an experimental dose of stem cells before the trial was halted by Menlo Park-based Geron.

The 23-year-old was paralysed from the torso down after being involved in a car crash, and received stem cell treatment at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

However, Geron - the company which was funding the trial - was forced to halt it, although it is hoping that another organisation will pick up where it left off.

Geron does remain committed to tracking the progress of the participants already treated in the study, however.

"My goal is to walk," Ms Sharify told MercuryNews.com, "I want someone somewhere to see me.

"Maybe there's a head of a big company who sees this and says, 'We should help this girl'."

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Posted by Matthew Heap

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