How This Doctor Helped Autistic Kids With Stem Cell Therapy (Real Results)

This patient had been to numerous specialists and there had been numerous therapies administered, but not really very much progress. This little boy was having aggression issues in addition to hyperactivity, in addition to autism spectrum. No one had ever looked at that. He ended up being a patient who had Crohn's. He was put with GI specialists in addition to us doing therapy with stem cell therapy and exosomes. And this child, after one infusion, even able to sleep through the night, he did not have any more outbursts at home or in school. That was like one of the biggest changes in his liver function. Test his GI inflammatory markers.

All of those things came down in today's episode. I get to interview Dr. Courtney Gillingwater, who is a US Navy veteran, an international humanitarian, and also a pediatrician. She's able to share her personal story of why she is so inspired by regenerative medicine, not just for her and also her for her mother and for people she really cares about, which are children and us veterans. I hope you find inspiration in these stories and then have takeaways that will help you. And welcome to the show. Dr. Gillian Water. You've been working with me for two years, and I'm really happy that it's time for me to interview you and I can showcase your expertise. And I want to maybe give us a little bit of background. I know you or a Navy veteran, and then you turned into a pediatrician, and you does a lot of humanitarian efforts. So it's a very interesting background. How did you become a veteran, first of all? And then you chose not only medicine, but pediatrics. So maybe a quick overview.

Yes. Thank you so much for letting me come here. And I really appreciate the warm introduction. So my background is non traditional. Yes. I was really interested in being of service and. And when I was in high school, I had a lot of coaches and a lot of teachers suggest that I apply for the United States Naval Academy because it was really hard to get into. And I didn't know what it was, truth be told, but I was like, oh, a challenge. Okay. And so I went and I applied, and then I got in, and I absolutely loved the place, the people, the passion of everyone there. And I actually studied political science, so I worked a lot in public affairs initially, early on, and I worked with the honor board and ethics committee, and that was kind of the route that I initially took. And that was my military introduction. I then subsequently went into civilian medicine, and I.

What made you choose pediatrics?

Pediatrics. I love children, and I love interacting with patients. In an engaging way.

I, I've seen you with kids. You're extraordinarily patient and fun and comforting. So you definitely have knack for it.

They are resilient. Children are just something that all of us can look to for inspiration because they have this hope that is unbound by anything. They don't know any better. And until they are taught otherwise, they are just something that I think everyone can learn from because of that innocence. And with children, it's just something I've worked and volunteered overseas and home stateside with vulnerable populations, refugee children. And I volunteered with organizations like Operation Smile. They do the pediatric surgeries for free. In, in. It's something that is really rewarding. I would do it for free. In fact, I did do it for free.

I know when I first met you, you were gone doing something for free.

I like running around in a, Running around the world trying to make a difference, I suppose. And I, I, I volunteered in humanitarian aid and disaster relief medicine for a while as well. I was fortunate enough to help in the Nepal earthquake disaster relief and then in the Syrian refugee crisis. I worked on the sea rescue teams as a volunteer pediatrician. And my background is a combination of the pediatrics for my formal training in medical school and residency, in addition to my background in trauma and emergency medicine, icu, that kind of thing. And so I kind of do whatever needs to be done and I can, you know, kind of jury rig things if I need to, if I'm in.

A place by any situation which is, you know, wonderful to have around. And. But you, you made a transition, right, from the conventional pediatrics into regenerative medicine. How did that happen?

So it's really, that was actually really interesting. So I was home from volunteering in the Ukraine refugee crisis and I ended up in the hospital and I was trying to, you know, optimize health and get, you know, back on, you know, kind of like a normal traditional medical course. Because my parents were like, can you please just have a normal job? And I was like, okay. So when I was looking at new jobs, I was in the kitchen with a friend of mine and they know that I'm very passionate about brain injuries. And there's a lot of veterans who have injuries, traumatic brain injuries, ptsd. And this friend asked me, well, what are your thoughts on brain derived neurotrophic factor bdnf? Courtney and I had never heard that term before. So I literally was like, that's not a word. And I said it very like, you know, like, I didn't learn that in med school. So that wasn't a word. I had a photographic memory, which is a blessing and a curse. And I subsequently was then shown the book and then the podcast articles and all of the website descriptions of bdnf, which is indeed a word. And it was something that I just was not made aware of yet because when I was in medical school, that wasn't something that we were taught about yet. And I think that's, you know, that goes without saying. There's a lot of things that have been, you know, coming out, but that was so interesting to me and also kind of like I don't like not knowing something that that can be helpful. So I was like, oh, I need to go learn about this. And so that was what guided me to kind of seek a position with regenerative medicine. So I started learning.

That shows you the limit of the medical school education. That really a lot of the new things that are around sometimes people who are laypeople may know first. I mean, that's right.

Right. That's.

That's sad.

It was. It's an opportunity. Right. Because I had no idea this word existed. I'm so glad they said something. And I was like, okay, you are right. I would like to go learn about that now. And then I got a job, any that was giving peptides that helped specifically with improving bdnf, like neuron synapse connections, which is a way of making new connections in the brain to help with cognitive function. So that was how I got into it.

I see. Yeah. And then you became very passionate about stem cell therapy and how did you get to that place?

So this is my favorite part of the story because this is how I met you. And this is actually why I'm here today.

So.

So when I was in the hospital at the VA a couple of years ago, I, as you know, I used to snore like a 100-year-old man. I had no oxygen flow. I had a deviated septum, sleep apnea. I was not getting oxygen. So I went to get a surgery to heal my, you know, my deviated septum, reconstruct it so that I could open up my airways and breathe. It was incredible. I cannot believe I waited too long for the surgery, to be honest. I wish I'd done it sooner, but I got the surgery, which went wonderful. I happened to have checked off a box at the VA hospital, you know, while you're in there, since some of my military colleagues had constantly told me I snored like a hundred year old man. And no one could sleep anywhere within like a 5 mile radius of the room I was in because it was so loud and harmonious. I asked the team if there was anything else they could do, you know, to open my airway. By all means, go ahead. They ended up, instead of just the deviated septum, they opened up my airway by reconstructing my posterior pharynx, my soft palate. They took my uvula out, which was a surprise, but they did a lot of opening and it was incredible. Very successful on that part. However, at the end of the surgery when they extubated me, unfortunately, they filleted open my tongue from the base all the way out to the root. And it not on purpose, but I woke up and the post anesthesia care unit was complications unexpectedly. And that should have taken five weeks to heal. And I was unfortunately also very familiar with that particular injury. My former husband is a plastic reconstructive surgeon and we volunteered with head and neck surgery. So I was very well versed in the complication. It should have taken at least five weeks to heal. So when I woke up and realized what was happening, I was surprised and.

Prepared for a long.

Right, right. And I was just like, okay, so this is happening. And I was in the hospital. My military colleagues heard that was in there, and they were aware of your stem cells and exosomes. And you know, I was not aware. I wasn't sure. I hadn't really heard too much about it before, but they said, can we give this to you? We want you back, you know, like, you know, running around saving the world. Courtney, we can't have you in the hospital for five weeks. And I was like, I don't know what you guys are talking, like, what is this again? I didn't learn about it in medical school and they don't have very much about it yet as people in the future. But my colleague said, can we give this to you to help you heal? And I admittedly, I was skeptical at first. So if anyone knows physicians out there who are, you know, experienced MDs who were practicing, we may not know about these therapies yet. It doesn't mean we're against them. But if we haven't heard about it, we are taught in medical school, be critical, like, make sure that there's studies showing the advances or whatever the things are, because for the patient's benefit, you want to make sure you doing what's right. And so I admittedly was a little concerned, but when your face is exploded, you're a little more flexible in what you're willing to try. So my parents are also PhD biochemists and immunologists, and they work in clinical laboratories. And so they did the back check on all of your cells, and everything looked phenomenal to them. So with that in mind, on post operative day three, I had one IV infusion. Your stem cells and exosomes. It was incredible. I, I. Instead of five weeks, in five days I was back in the gym. And in seven days, I was swallowing solid food. And I, I mean, the swelling on my face was going up after the surgery, within even.

What did the surgeon think how long it would take for you to swallow solid food?

Oh, they. It was gonna take a couple weeks. Like, it was gonna. I was gonna be on liquids for weeks. So I was just. And I know that because I have given that instruction to patients before. When we do the cleft lip and palate surgeries, when you do the reconstructions, you just have to be very, you know, mindful. And so I was. I was so happy, and I was just so incredibly impressed and surprised. And I was like, number one, what is this sorcery? Like, what did you guys give me? I didn't learn about this in med school. Like, I was. So I didn't know what to say.

Right? And the swelling of.

Oh, the swelling on my face and the face swelling, I did not look cute. I had swelling like, I look like Fiona from Shrek. Like, there was just swelling everywhere and bruises but within. And that was within a few. Like, a day after the surgery. That started happening right after the stem cell infusion. Within 18 hours, the swelling came down in my face enough to the extent that my iPhone recognized my face for the first time in three days. And even more, maybe even more indicative of what a drastic change it was. There was a nurse named Nina who had been coming in because of the complications, daily taking pictures of, you know, she took the face bandages off, took a picture of my face, put them back on again. Like, you know, she was used to my face by that point. The morning after the stem cells, Nina took the bandages off of my face, and when she did, she jumped backwards, and she's like, oh, my God. And I am. When you're laying in a hospital bed and your. Your face is, like, not doing so well, and the nurse that's been looking at you for a few days that says that, I was like, I was like, what? I was like, oh, God, what did they put in my IV infusion? Like, what was this? Like, I don't understand. And then she's like, Your face. And I was like, that's not making me feel better. And I was like, someone hand me a mirror. And I looked at my face that day, and I started crying because I had some bruises and a black eye, but you could actually recognize my face for the first time in three days. And I still remember that moment because I was so prepared to see something else. I could see myself in the mirror. And that is the experience that after that hospitalization, when I got out, I came to your office and I said, can I just learn from you? I don't know what this. When I don't know what something is, I want to learn about it. I'm very much aware of what I know and even more aware of what I do not know. Right. And so I came and asked if I could learn. And thankfully, you were willing to have someone just, like, follow you around. And I was just, like, so intrigued. And I watched what you were doing with people to help people, and I've been very passionate about that just personally. And it was truly an education in and of itself. And that's how I ended up here.

Thank you so much for sharing that story. Yeah, I know that I think a lot of physicians, when they actually have personal experience, that that's definitely. It's such a eye opener. And for you, that you realize that you've just encountered something that we, you know, medicine had nothing like it.

Yeah. And it was just one of those things. If. If this exists, my first realization was like, what is this? I need to learn from this, this hero number two. Why is this not available to everyone like antibiotics? Because I was so grateful. But. But far be it for me. If you can get me, instead of five weeks, if I can go be at the gym in five days, that means somebody else can go home to their families. That means somebody else can go back to their jobs. That means they can put food on the table. That means that healing is possible. And I have very specifically made it kind of my life's work, what I have transitioned all of my efforts into now, with your help, of course, because you're teaching me every step along the way. I think everyone should have access. And I just think that one day it's just going to take scientific research, evidence. It's going to take some, you know, like grit. But combining what traditional allopathic medicine, you know, the Western medicine, combining that with integrative therapies is the best way forward, because a lot of people think it has to be either one or the other. And people can butt heads sometimes. Or be skeptical. And if they don't know, they don't like to, or they don't have time to learn more about some of these new modalities. So I would encourage anyone who's a traditional conservative physician, M.D. it's very interesting and it is worth learning about, if for nothing else. And combining those things.

We actually do all that at the clinic. Yeah. So we, you know, both traditional medicine and the more kind of holistic medicine that may have come from older traditions, but I think functional medicine, even the tests we do. Right. The methylation test, that's Western medicine. Right. The micronutrient testing, that's not in traditional medicine. That's something that we've developed. We're using science to have the capability to detect all these micronutrients in our body and then to look at DNA. Right. Our genetics. I mean, there's so much we're doing microbiome, we didn't have the tools, so we're utilizing these tools which come from Western medicine. But then we're using the philosophy of, of looking at the body as a very complex whole to really wrap around our treatment. And the beauty of stem cell therapy is that is it's embraced by everybody. So anybody, if you are a Western medicine doctor, you know, stem cells, cutting edge, you can have doubts of what kind of evidence is out there, how it works, but you can deny that this is a powerful, powerful form that, that we can tap into and something that we can't yet. You know, we have evidence to the contrary. But, but, but it's also embraced by traditional, more holistic oriented practitioners because it's so holistic. Right. You're putting some cell that comes from a human being that's made by some kind of force that we don't know how to describe yet. And, and within that has contained so much intelligence. And then we're borrowing that intelligence, we're putting it into a human so that this intelligence can start manifesting and sending signals. So the recipient, all of a sudden, their body can actually wake up to what's possible. Because when we are stuck in disease, that means we can't see, we can't hear. Right. We're stuck in a, in a mold. That's. That's sickness. But if you can punch through the fog and kind of let the light, you know, dissipate it, all of a sudden we can actually get the healing in place, which is what we have seen. And it's interesting, we're talking about you being a pediatrician and the very first case I heard about stem cell therapy was actually on an autistic kid. And that's what inspired me. So back when I was trying to get board certified in addiction medicine, I was on this bus with all these doctors and one of the doctors that sat next to me was a anesthesiologist who was doing, practicing anti aging medicine, which I had no idea what it was. So I was, I was in my bubble, right? That was 10, 10 years ago. I was in my bubble. And when he said, oh yeah, I use stem cell therapy for my patients, I said what? You do what?

I know the feeling.

Yeah, right. Really? People are actually using it already? Because I heard about it. That's, that's all I knew. I heard people are studying it, but I didn't know that you could use it. So you know, that was me. Right. And that's still many doctors these days probably, but hopefully not that many anymore. But he said, oh yeah, I've used stem cells to treat patients. I'll show you. This kid has autism and I gave him an IV infusion of stem cells from the umbilical cord. And let me show you what the teacher said. So basically the parents text him all the responses, all the observations by the teacher. The teacher had no idea that the child got stem cell treatment. So the teacher probably would just kind of in awe this child keep making improvements. Better eye contact, better social interactions, no longer procrast. And you know, as far as verbalization, like a long list, literally 40 things that the teachers observed. And then when I was looking through that list, I was just, I was blown away because I was a psychiatrist at that time and he was an anesthesiologist. I was supposed to be the expert in autism, but I couldn't do what he just did. What, what did you, you, you did one IV and you were able to do this? It would take us years, throwing all kinds of medications, doing all kinds of behavioral therapies and women still, still may not get there. So what, what is this?

Right?

That's what got me inspired. Yeah, that's from autistic children. So then of course I looked deeper into the science and looked at what the mechanism could be right for, for helping autism. Autism. There's immune dysregulation, there's a lot of possibility, low blood flow, low oxygenation in the brain and gut issues. So all these different areas stem cells are perfect for and which is actually one of the main things we do in the clinic is to help kids with autism. And of course you have taken up the majority of the Tasks because of your expertise in helping children.

It's incredible to watch, in all honesty, because of what we're able to do. So your protocol is comprehensive also. So with autism, we have these cases, and I worked and volunteered with children with these spectrum of neurodivergence, and there's a whole array of issues that can come about and stem from developmental differences that some children have and the parents and the families all have to cope with these things. Right? And up until recently, to be honest, honest, a lot of these families and children did not have. Hope is maybe not the right word, but they didn't have anything that was giving them any opportunity to think, is there a chance for this to get better? Because as you said, traditionally, it's not a type of condition that can advance quickly or just overnight fix itself. And every patient comes in with different underlying conditions and different contributing factors. But with the stem cell therapy protocol, one of the most inspiring things I've watched you do here is I. Because I have seen children not advance or be able to improve quickly developmentally, and that has impact on their lives down the line, specifically. And I have watched you change lives of these children. They're able to go and interact with their peers, interact with their family members. They're able to engage in meaningful conversations, and they're able to interact with the environment around them. You know, children who otherwise maybe for various reasons were maybe not as verbal for various, you know, underlying causes, are able to speak and learn language, communication, and there's varying degrees of that. But that ability of integrating these little children into, you know, society as a whole, you're giving these children an opportunity for a life that is engaging and involved and impactful. And I just think that that's something. It's so important to make sure that we take care of the next generation. And this is how you're doing it here.

I want to ask you. So let's say a little kid is brought in by parents and want to see if they can help. You know, stem cells therapy can help. What is your process? How do you approach them?

Okay, so if a child comes in, for every children, every child that comes in, we first and foremost, you listen to the parents and you ask where they're coming from and you get an assessment of baseline. So we do comprehensive approach here, as you taught me. And I kind of brought in a couple little pieces of the developmental. We get the birth history from the parents, the developmental history of the child. And if there was any advancements or at what point point was there any change or delay or some sort of regression, because sometimes that happens in, in, in and in assessing where the patients are coming in at, we get a good baseline of the history and what's been done so far. And have they been diagnosed or assessed to be, you know, autism spectrum, et cetera, or are they just verbal delay? And I also always, because of my other background with traditional medicine, have they had their hearing checked? Have they had, you know, their, Their. Their vision and hearing at birth? Was it normal then and then? Did that ever change? These are simple things that if no one's asking, if they're just looking at the problem behavior child, if you don't check a child's hearing and they have hearing disabilities because there's something that's easily fixable, it's not that they're delayed, it's that there's something else that can be done, and then you can catch them up afterwards. Right. So we do an assessment of the history. Then what we do here as well, we do comprehensive assessment of what other factors can really impact neuroinflammatory conditions. Neuroinflammatory inflammation in the brain, especially the areas that are involved in higher executive function, cognition, learning processes, the visual and auditory reception of stimuli, processing of stimuli, and output of verbal language, things like that. There are areas of the brain, brains specifically, that deal with these areas. And so you kind of want to find out what's been done. And they've done studies recently. Duke has a massive study that has shown the gut issues that certain individuals have if there is GI inflammation, because the gut is, if you think about it, kind of like the second immune system. It's where our body takes everything in, you know, from the outside. And GI inflammatory conditions are very specifically, very impactful to any type of neuroinflammatory condition, such as an autism spectrum condition. And for these children, sometimes just targeting GI gut inflammation alone can in and of itself improve the conditions in their body so that their neuroinflammatory condition can improve. And so what we also do at the clinic, in addition to the history, I always ask, have we checked for micronutrient deficiencies? Because that can be addressed. Have we looked for food sensitivities so that that can be addressed? And food sensitivities, especially, a lot of people check, you know, for allergies to, you know, lactose, you know, milk allergies or, you know, gluten allergies, but even if someone doesn't have a formal allergy, if they have a sensitivity to something and they don't know it, and they're having that in the diet. That's something that can contribute to a significant amount of GI inflammatory underlying issues that will subsequently impact the brain's ability to kind of stave off its issues with inflammation. So we do that. This is all the initial consultation. We also ask is, has there ever been anything, you know, done to check for mold exposure? Has there any ever been anything done to check for heavy metal exposure? And the final thing that I also like to check is methylation testing. So the methylation process in the body is something just kind of. I'm simplifying the process, but it's the way the body can process energy and metabolic function. And if there is a little bit of a variance in how some little child's methylation process works, you can actually have an impact on neuroinflammation as well. And if we identify these underlying conditions, target them with an intervention specifically, once we have identified it, and then we do the intervention therapy and make sure to take care of that in and of itself, that will improve underlying conditions. So we do a very comprehensive assessment. And if the children have had that address before, wonderful. We can just make sure that it's on our end. Everything is looked at and then we think about what the timeline is for the child and we have them actually come in for the stem cell therapy. And you can do that in conjunction with those testing. And we do before and after comprehensive baseline objective testing. And that's how we can actually, after the stem cell therapy, we do follow up with the patients to see, you know, kind of subjectively, how are the children doing. And in addition, we have objective lab data, and comparing that is one of the most informative ways.

What kind of lab changes have you seen?

Oh, incredible. We had one child come in. This patient had been to numerous specialists in developmental issues internationally. And the child and the parents came in and there had been numerous therapies administered, but not really very much progress over the five years prior to the patients finding us and coming here. And this little boy was having aggression issues in addition to hyperactivity, in addition to autism spectrum. And he was approaching, quote, picky eater, always had to have, you know, seemed uncomfortable and his stomach seemed to have some issues, but no one had ever looked at that. He ended up being a patient who had Crohn's, which is a very significant.

So you checked, checked the markers and.

Yeah, we checked, yeah. And so then that is a very significant underlying GI condition. That's immune mediated inflammation that would cause Anybody discomfort. And the inflammatory process in and of itself is also not making anything better if you have someone who has underlying neuroinflammatory conditions that are causing them to be a little more aggressive and they can't communicate very well for various reasons. So this patient, we working with his GI team. So you integrate, right. Work with the other doctors. He was put with GI specialists, and we had therapy from the GI specialist targeting the Crohn's, in addition to us doing therapy with stem cell therapy and exosomes, as per your protocol. And this child, after one infusion, even he was able to sleep through the night. He did not have any more outbursts at home or in school. So he was actually able to go back to classes, which he had, previous to this, not been allowed to go into because he was such a disruption. And it was something that the parents were. They had this child who they love, but they didn't really, you know, know what else to do. And we were able to have, after one infusion, the changes in the behavioral issues that have been detrimental alone, just after one infusion. And then that was like one of the biggest changes in terms of labs and his liver function test, his GI inflammatory markers. All of those things came down for the before, just as. As one example.

Yeah. That's wonderful. Yeah. So you have seen a lot of autistic kids, and you know what. What are some. I know you do, yeah. What are a few other patients that you. That comes to mind that you can share?

Sure. So I, you know, one of my favorite cases was this little boy, and he was 15, so he was taller than me. I'm only 5 2, but he was 15 and a young child. He came into our clinic, and the mother was highly educated, surgical, you know, physician's assistant. And this 15 year old came into our clinic, and he did not make eye contact. He was hyperactive. He had echolalia, which is, you know, his communication style was he would just repeat words and not in a communicative way that was like, you know, relaying information. It was just kind of making noise. And it, you know, this mother came in and she was so hopeful, and she had seen your videos, and it gave her hope. And so they came in and this was kind of like the family's, you know, like they put all their savings and everything towards this. And after one infusion, this child who, you know, was not really interacting with the world around him, he was not picking up on social cues. Like, if everyone on the playground would look and point at, you know, A plane flying across the sky or something, he wouldn't pay attention. He'd be in his own little world. So he was not very engaged, which on top of everything else was just the parents. You know, when you're seeing your child who you love dearly, in a position where they're not necessarily able to interact with the world around them, that can be really hard on the family as well. And so you're, you're, we're actually honestly giving therapy to the whole family when we, when we do these, these therapies, sessions. And it's one of the favorite moments in my time in your clinic was this family came back and after the first infusion, the mom said he's making eye contact. And we didn't tell the people at school that he got the infusion, but when he had his IEP individual, the education plan, kind of like the review, he was advancing unexpectedly given his baseline. And then the, you know, the counselor at school was just kind of like surprised. They're like, what, you know, did something happen or change? And then they just kind of like they smiled. He was put in classes where he could then be more able to learn. He was put with one on one, you know, like a tutor who could stay with him in class and kind of help him. And he started engaging. When children were speaking to him, he would start responding. So instead of only having the YouTube video that he was engaging with, he was actually noticing when other children or other teachers or other peers were saying something to him. He would actually pick up his face. He wasn't always responding all the time entirely. But the fact that he was noticing the world around him and trying to engage, that was after one infusion. Sometimes with some of these children, if there is a history of long standing chronic inflammatory process or, you know, pre existing underlying conditions, some of our patients, you know, everyone has different contributing factors. Some people have an immediate response after one infusion and in some cases it varies case to case. Sometimes in certain patients with a higher, you know, baseline amount of inflammation needing to be targeted, some of these patients will have a more accurate reflection of what their potential response to stem cell therapy may be. After what we call stacking a series, you know, of like two or three infusions spaced one or two months apart. And what I mean by that is just to kind of clarify, I'm not saying somebody has to do stem cells for the rest of their life or anything like that. It's, it's, that's for anti aging and health optimization later. That's, that's one thing. But with, with underlying medical conditions, and specifically developmental neurodevelopmental conditions, stacking consists of giving this series of infusions. Because when we give stem cell therapy, the stem cells are going to be in the body for 60 to 90 days, but the first 30 days is when they're the most biologically active and the most biologically available in the system. And so for that reason, we do our follow up after we do the, you know, the stem cell infusion. We do your protocol for the day of therapy, which is, you know, very comprehensive. I'm sure we'll go over that in a moment. But we do the protocol on the day of therapy and then we actually send all of our patients home with your protocol for the post stem cell infusion protocol to do the first month after those infusions. Because those first 30 days, it's so critical and so impactful to optimize the results for every single one of our patients. We do that and we do follow up with the patients two, three days after the infusion and then two, three weeks after to see how people are doing. Because in the event, if there's improvements in a patient's, you know, eye contact, communication, you know, they're getting improvement across the board, but maybe there's subtle improvements in parents or the patient, we're hoping for a bit more. For example, in those cases, at that two, three week mark, we're at that 30 day window. And what we can do is we have an opportunity. We can piggyback a second infusion for those first 30 days. The cells are at that level, that highest level in the system when dosed appropriately, of course. And if we, before those cells come down, they're still going to be in the body for the remainder of that 60 to 90 day period. And you can wait and see because some people will still be getting improvements those next couple of days. However, if we piggyback a second infusion before those levels come down, you extend the therapeutic window for these patients. And that gives a statistically significant different clinical result in a patient's response to the stem cell therapy. And it is a higher amount of the clinical response. It is a more like the turnaround time of the clinical response time is different as well. And it's something that we can do in cases if needed. Not everyone needs it, but this child, he is, was having these improvements, but we were hoping for just a little bit more. So we did a second infusion. And when this child came in after the second infusion, the mom brought him in, he walked in calmly through the door and made eye contact with me for the very first time. And I always like to kind of like engage with the patient, see how they, you know, see how they interact. And I always like to give them a little cup of water, you know, just to kind of see like do they take it? Do they even notice that I have the water? Do they like stare off into space? You know, it's, it's okay. You know, you just want to see how they engage and, and you know, try to hand him a toy or something. And this little boy, when I tried to hand him water the first time when he came in before any stem cell therapy, he didn't, he did not notice that I was like standing there trying to handle the water. He was way more, you know, distracted and running around, not making contact or engaging. This time he came in after the second infusion. He not only made eye contact, when I handed him the cup of water, he went, looked at me, went and got me a cup of water. He mimicked what I just did and he said thank you to my face as he received the water. And the mother and I started crying because I did not expect that. And it was, you can change a child's ability to interact and experience the world around them. And if you can do that for the child, that helps the family too, because this is their, their, their little person that they've poured into. And, and again, everyone has a different response to therapy. But that moment, that was one of the first patients that I worked with you on. And I, to this day I always think of the mother's face and like, I know that I was trying to, like, I was so shocked. But like I remember the mother and I had a moment because it was so impactful and I knew that that child's future was going to be different because of what you've done. And it's that, that, that's one story as an example.

I, I, I see how much, how much you love and care about these patients and how excited you are for them.

I mean you, it's, it's incredible what you can give these kids a chance to have a, a life that is, they're going to be alive. Yes. Like, regardless of, you know, no matter what any child or parent does. Of course, when you have proactive parents who care about them, they're going to get, I always tell parents this as well, you know, because you have to acknowledge the parents role in this. They're going to be in a better place when these parents are being proactive, trying to find a solution for their kids. And I always tell the parents, no matter what you do, I just want you to hear someone tell you, you, because you're being proactive, you're going to get your child from wherever they are right now to a place that's better for them in the future. And however that happens, I'm here to support you. Here's what we are able to do here, if you want. And it's just one option. I want to give them a sense of agency if possible. My role, if I do my job right, at least in the consultations, is to give them information about what is out there. Because I know, and I've been the pediatrician in the clinic regular, you know, traditional medicine room, having challenge is trying to help. And I know that there's people out there that just aren't as aware yet of what kind of therapeutic interventions we can give these kids. And it will get there, I'm sure. But now that I'm in this position, I get to tell these parents, I know that you can't control the circumstances that you or, you know, your loved ones are dealing with. And I'm acknowledging you're having to navigate something and I'm sorry. And in circumstances when we can't control something, that can be helpful is having a sense of agency, understanding what your options are when you are in a situation that you cannot control. If I can at least give them information on what therapeutic options do exist now, because stem cell therapy, safe, scientifically backed stem cell therapy and protocols do exist that are available for their child if they so choose. If I can give them that, they can choose and decide what to do in the face of the circumstances they can't control. And that's at the end of the day.

Yeah, well, of course, no therapies works for everybody, for everything. So that's the nature of medicine. But when a parent comes to you, like, what would you say the percentage of kids that actually respond to stem cell therapy? What. What is your experience?

So that, that range. That's an excellent question. And it ranges so all and the families, everyone has a degree of a response. And I'm always very honest and open about that too, because you have to be very transparent. Right. Some kids have an immediate response, like literally within days. And it's incredible. Those are some of my favorite phone calls because. Or in video calls sometimes too. I get videos and photos sent to me constantly. And it is amazing. You know, if you think about it, these kids are watching life like it's a black and white tv. Maybe sometimes is my, this is my analogy. And then all of a sudden everything's in color and there's music. And so these kids are just taking in the world and absorbing everything like sponges. And that's some children. And then other children, sometimes they have a little bit of an improvement and there's, you know, an opportunity. But the timeline, maybe it's weeks or months before they have a little bit more of an integration or more verbalization and there's different, you know, children's personalities. You have to take into account a couple of things, right? So that's timeline differences from hours to days responding versus weeks to month. That's one kind of example. And every once in a while, if there's a child, for example, that has other underlying conditions and, or extenuating circumstances for various socioeconomic reasons, for example, there are things that do need to be taken into account. However, with the follow up, with assessment, what we do with each one of our patients, if it's been, you know, one or two months and we are wanting more improvements, there is something to be said. We assess, we do interventions, we put them on. There's peptides that we actually include as part of the protocol that you have for the neurodevelopmental conditions. And with time, some patients, within four months to six months, if they didn't have it necessarily, that this is less, less frequent. But I'm just, again, very openly, just very much wanting to share. If patients are in a environment where they are able to improve their exposure to normal language and exposure to communication and interactions and social cues, these kids can actually make advances that I have not been able, I have not seen as a pediatrician possible otherwise. And so, and on top of that, of course, and this is again, goes without saying, sometimes there have been cases where the patients, or, sorry, the parents will, you know, they'll want, you know, the rapid, immediate change. And I hear them and I understand that entirely. And if that doesn't happen immediately, I know that that can be a frustration. So I completely understand that. And it's just something where I just always encourage people, you know, just keep doing what you're doing, keep caring about your child, assess, do whatever interventions are necessary. Sometimes people will go and they'll, you know, they'll do a heavy metal chelation if they find out that their child was exposed to like lead, for example, and then they'll come back afterwards. So there's things that, you know, sometimes life happens and that's okay too. And at the end of the day, more often than not. To be honest, the reason why we have so many patients coming here with children is because of the referrals. There was a lot of patients on, on blogs. I didn't know this. I'm sorry. There was a lot of patients. There were a lot of patient parents apparently talking about us on, on the blogs. And I didn't know this, but I, apparently we, we've done some really wonderful things, but I, I was getting referrals and I think that speaks more than anything because when people trust you with their children, it is a great responsibility to have that opportunity and you have to take it seriously. And that is why we very specifically are very comprehensive and we do everything we can. Combining traditional medicine with the integrative therapies and your protocol. And the timelines are different sometimes. Yes, but we've had patients go elsewhere and then come back, and then we've had patients get referrals and come in and then send further other children. And the stories speak for themselves. The children actually now speak for themselves.

Actually unable to speak not. Yeah, and I know we, of course we don't. You know, what you do at Child Health is not just seeing autistic children. You see children with all forms of conditions and also many, many adults. So what, what are some other cases that you, you can share.

So it's, it's such a big thing.

There was one child with, with that was on a liver transplant list, right?

Oh my gosh, yes. So There was a 18 year old and, and this patient, he had an immune mediated condition that put him on a liver transplant list, a psc. It's basically a condition with inflammation in the ducts connecting the gallbladder and the liver. And basically it results in a lot of pressure happening and the liver just gets kind of in a really bad way, very inflamed and gorged. And this poor child had had issues where he had to be removed from school because of medical complications directly related to this condition. He was vomiting up blood in the middle of classes, like spontaneously. Like it was a really scary, very intense, very complex condition. And he was handling it in stride and he was able to kind of get, you know, things to a point where they were stabilized, but they did have to put him at that young age on a transplant list, which, that in and of itself is something I would never want any child or person to have to deal with. But like, when you're that young, it really does impact you. And he came into us and the family was hopeful. They'd seen one of your podcasts and they kind of, you know, like, like very many families, they said, okay, well let's try at least this one because there's so much, you know, mistrust and like confusion out there that, and rightfully so, in skepticism, like I meant, you know, we talked about in the beginning because it's not fully integrated into the education and medicine yet. And there's not as many clinical research studies that have been published as much. They'll get there. Now we're doing them at the clinic, as, you know, as I'm sure you've talked about as well. But this family trusted you and your clinic and that is how they found their way to us. And when they came in, we did the assessment, did all the, you know, baseline. I actually work, I have like the cell phone number of like the liver specialist. He and I like get along great. But we, we work with these other practitioners from the traditional medical world because we can speak with them. And when you combine what you're doing for a patient with something that's extraordinarily capable of changing their potential outcome. This child came and had an IV infusion. Now with him, as I mentioned, he had a higher baseline amount of inflammation because he had this. The PSC was a very extensive disease process. And he came in. So we did the stacking series of three IV stem cell infusions on him, you know, spacing them one month apart to get that, you know, increase of the therapeutic window that sometimes needed. He had such a change in his, not only his objective lab markers, like data that is objective and verifiable, like there, you know, you can't, no one can change the numbers in a lab.

What kind of markers?

Like looking at the markers for his liver function, test his gallbladder function, test his inflammatory markers, systemic inflammatory markers. These are the things that science speaks for itself. I was raised by two scientists and I am a scientist myself and I'm a dreamer. Yes. And I'm hopeful and I'm open minded. But at the end of the day, 77% of physicians decisions, or 72%, 77% of decisions made in hospitals are based on lab data because it is reliable, reproducible and valid.

So what kind of changes do you see in his lab data?

His lab data showed that these inflammatory markers in his liver and his gallbladder, they started coming down instead of just exponentially increasing, they finally started going down. And then he had these other markers that were like systemic inflammation markers that were through the roof. Those started coming Down. And I called the liver doctor and he and I were just like, I was like, how do you like those labs? And he's like, he's like, I, I just. So he actually was able to, the patient was able to be put on instead of like the top, like of those livers. He was able to like be bumped. And, and he's still getting monitored. He's still obviously followed up. But to have that change and that happen and to get to have that interaction with that other physician as well was just.

Have you ever seen anything like that?

No.

As far as reversal?

No and no. And it's one of those things. It's, it's just again, you have to just follow the data, follow the patient. And then again, we're still following with the patient and the families. We're comprehensive at this clinic. Like, we don't just see someone and like never talk to them again. Like we actually care. So it's something that's important and it's vitally important because that is also how other physicians and other people who have medical conditions that could benefit from access to this therapy, the more people we.

What we're doing and how we're communicating with other providers and our patient, actually we are all together are changing medicine because that liver transplant specialist probably would not have known what stem cells could have done right, for, for the patients. And then he may in turn now look into the science and maybe he can talk with his colleagues. So that's why we are creating this wave of change. The new medicine is going to be here. It doesn't, you know, whether or not the establishment likes it, whether or not the pharmaceutical driven approaches likes it, because it's, it's cases like this, right? This is gonna, just gonna spread because people realize, oh, now I have hope. Now there's something that can, that can really save the quality of my life and probably how long I can live for. This kid probably is extending his life. Yeah. What about for adults? You also treat adults?

Yes. No. I'll take care of whoever needs help if they come my way to a fault. But I love being able to help people. Like I said, it's something I love doing. And for adults, I. My favorite. There's a couple of favorite patients, of course. One in particular, though, we had a gentleman come in and this was a veteran, he was a special forces veteran. Like, he'd done multiple tours. Iraq, Afghanistan, spec ops guy, you know, this guy was a tank, human tank. And he was also, after he, you know, did his tours overseas, came back to New York, New York cop. He was a 911 first responder. And this guy was healthy as a horse. This guy could run up and down like a million miles and up and down stairs all day long. And he did on 911 volunteer. And then after 911 he spent seven months volunteering to recover victims for their families to be able to have closure. And because of that seven month exposure, unfortunately this gentleman, this all American hero who just woke up every day trying to, you know, go out and do something to help people, he unfortunately developed lung cancer. And they had to surgically resect a significant portion of his lungs to the extent that this formerly very active and capable person could not go more than 15 yards without getting short of breath. Because of his sacrifice in service to others, he came to us. And I have a very special place in my heart for veterans of first responders because these are the people that take care of all the rest of us. So I very specifically want to do everything in my power to ensure these people are taken care of as well, because they don't ever usually try to take care of themselves. They just kind of, they're like, no, I'll be okay, like let me go help someone else in need. And it is important to care for these people. And this gentleman came in, he had shortness of breath. He had, you know, like this lung inflammatory condition that he had been told was going to be permanent and just be an issue for the rest of his life. And that was just his new normal. He had been told it would be his new normal. Kind of like many of our patients who are told a pain or an injury is their new normal that they're going to have to deal with. And that's not always necessarily the case. I have continued to discover and learn and see here. And this gentleman came in post surgical resection of his lungs, shortness of breath, and he needed help. Very specifically, we did IV stem cell infusions on this gentleman. We spaced them apart for him. He got three IV stem cell and exosome infusions. He went to his follow up appointment and this is to the World Trade Center. The CDC has a specific branch of the health sector that follows all of the first responders. It's a huge objective database full of data on all of these individuals specifically. And this patient of ours, after he had come and received the therapy, he went and had an imaging study done of his lungs and his pulmonary. You know, the lung specialist was looking at, they put it up on the screen and the guy literally like, like did a double take and he like thought it was a different patient actually. And then he had clearance of the lymph nodes that had been swollen previously had shrank. Not only had he had the lymph node inflammation that he had been told was the, the, basically the inflammation due to the exposure that was causing him to have shortness of breath and trouble breathing. All the time that inflammation had gone down and was on radiological imaging data on a screen to the extent where the lung doctor was like, what happened? What did you do? Because this patient had not told the practitioner until he wanted to see what that imaging study would look like. Because what he also did not tell the practitioner, he was able to run, he was getting 99% oxygenation. He was able to go do 20 miles in a marathon. He was able to actually engage and work out and be healthy and move around. And this patient had to such a response when he had been told his new normal was going to be shortness of breath for the rest of his life and likely, you know, difficulty in a few years due to lack of oxygen getting into his body. And this gentleman is now going to multiple other rehab facilities specifically for other patients who have issues due to the exposure from various issues. And he is a living breathing success story, literally. And he is the first case that the World Trade center actual, like the, the department of, like the government health entity monitoring our nation's heroes now has their first case with the resolution of that inflammatory process in this patient's lungs.

Yeah, remarkable.

We're doing a case study, actually presentation on it. And, and it's. That's one patient of ours and he was a veteran and great guy and just a New York cop, like New York's finest. And in addition to that, one of the places that he went, he met another army veteran, spec ops guy, salt of the earth, who this gentleman, he came back after being overseas serving in a country. He was a Boston cop. So, you know, they didn't have a little bit, you know, like the Boston versus Europe, you know, like the Yankees versus the Red Sox. But our first patient told this other gentleman who was shortness of breath and having difficulties, even though previously this is someone very, very healthy individual at baseline. The second adult patient, who's also a veteran and also a first responder, you know, been with the Boston Police department for over 15 years. This gentleman unfortunately had gotten cancer and he had cancer that metastasized to his brain and his lungs and that required chemotherapy, radiation and surgical resection of part of his lungs and his brain. He was able to recover from that. And after beating cancer that first time, he went and actually climbed to Everest base camp just to show other veterans and other cancer survivors it could be done. And then he started a charity to help other cancer survivors. And then he went seven years cancer free, came back, worked as a Boston cop. Amazing individual. Inspiring. Unfortunately, he then subsequently developed leukemia and the therapies that he was given to target the leukemia, unfortunately, because of his prior lung surgery significantly impacted his lungs and his breathing. He could not go up the stairs without being shortness of breath. He could not hold his kids and carry them up the stairs to tuck them into bed at night. And this gentleman came in and he was watching your podcast. He was, he and his wife and his family were just, they had, you know, they had, you know, been trying all of these things, but you can imagine if you've gone through something like that where you've beaten cancer once and you've done all these things, and then to have it happen again, just, you know, it's something that would be challenging. And he came in here struggling to breathe. And that patient, after we gave him therapy, he got the stacking of the three infusions as well, because as they, you know, higher baseline amount of inflammation. This patient, after his third infusion, did a 200 mile bike ride. And he has a charity where he goes and does cancer charity fundraising events where he bicycle rides over 200 miles now. And he was able to do that again after the stem cell therapy.

Wow. So amazing.

Yeah, it's. It's something that the more that these cases get, you know, published, the more that people hear about these, you know, instances. It's very important that there's objective clinical data. It's very important that there is, you know, accountability and things like that. And there's also importance of transparency, things like that. But at the end of the day, this is a whole new, the new medicine that you're talking about. It's, it's here, it's right under our, you know, under our noses. It's just a matter of whether people want to give it a chance or not. And it's, at the end of the day, pioneers who are coming up with protocols and who are doing the work to get the data to help the patients and to get access to people who need access most. At the end of the day, that is, that's why, that's why I'm here.

That's why I, Yeah, that's actually all of us in the clinic. Everybody, you know, from receptionist to the, the nurse to the Doctor. We're all inspired from the patients. Yeah. Because we're making such a difference, and it just is such a gratifying feeling to. To actually be able to do this. Very fortunate that we're in this position. To be able to do.

Yes. No, sorry. Yeah. I get goosebumps.

It's.

You just think of these people. And I have seen people, because of my background, I have seen people in deep, dark holes in, In. In. In challenging places. And I've seen. And I've experienced myself as well, like. Like when you have no hope or you're struggling to find, you know, what can I do with. To deal with this situation that you can't control? And these people come in and what you're able to give them to a certain degree, you can get them from wherever they are at in various different ways. You can get them from where they are at right now, steps closer to where they want to be in the future in that if you are able to just, you know, give. Show them that that's possible. There's various ways of getting there and various degrees of the response and the timetable and everything. But doing that is worth.

That's.

I mean, it's worth the effort and the, you know, the hours and the. I think I just. That's why I'm here. So.

I know, I know you. You are your. Your passion and your heart is well recognized by our patients and by everybody that works in the clinic. So we're really, really grateful to have, you know, someone like you that have just so much love for patients and for. For really, for humanity. I mean, you've volunteered, you know, in these dangerous places to help people. So thank you for your work and for all your heart.

Thank you for saving me so.

Right. You always tell me that I saved your face.

Yeah, she did. I literally was like. I. I just. She did. And honestly, like. Like my mother, too. So I. It's not even like, my own family. I wouldn't be recommending this for. It's not even just me. My mother, she has breast cancer survivor and blood pressures and glaucoma, and we were able to give her therapy. And then she had these musculoskeletal injuries from, like, a shoulder injury and a hip injury. We were able to get the pain in her shoulder, and she was able to go back into the gym after a shoulder rotator cuff injury. She was able to not have pain in her hip for the first. Like, she had pain daily for months.

And then.

Yeah. And then glaucoma, her eye pressure, glaucoma is an eye condition where there's high pressure in the eyes and it can affect vision. And we were able to get my mother's pressure in her eyes to come down. My mom, after her stem cell infusion, the first one we did with the neuroinflammatory protocol. The she the next day was, like, on her phone. I watched her. She was outside playing on her phone, like, looking up at the sky, and I was just like, what if my mom's hearing? And she was, like, excited because her hip didn't hurt for the first time in, like, four years. And she was, like, mobile and, like, running around. And I was like, what are you doing? She's like, the stars. She was looking at the stars, and she could see. And there's a constellation app on her phone. So she was, like, looking at what I was like. I was like, what are you.

Oh.

And she was looking at the stars because she could see at night. And it was this moment where. So it's not just me that you helped, Dr. Kong. It was my mother was able to literally go and look at the stars again. So it's beautiful.

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being who you are and so happy that you're here. You're a gift to the world.

Thank you for teaching me.