A Cure on the Move

In June of 2009, a man named Ken Miles suffered from a heart attack. He was told that 30% of his heart was damaged and that his life would never be the same.

3 weeks following this a man by the name of Mike Jones suffered from a similar heart attack, uncertain of whether it would ever be within his ability to recover. However, the odds were pressed against both them.

They had both agreed to undergo a procedure of treating the damaged areas of the heart with stem cells grown from their own heart weeks earlier. Now according to studies, a patients Left Ventricle Ejection Fraction, a measure of blood flow to the heart per each contraction, has to be above 40% to have not suffered from heart damage. These patients, both at around 30.3%, had within 3 months improved this LVEF to 38.5%. And as they continued treatment for a year, had revived to back to 42.5%!

Advancements like this show the direction of where research is being applied, and though not every sickness will ever be healed, they are making amazing strides towards minimizing the vast numbers of people suffering from heart damage and failure.