Fourth-time mom, Michelle Johnson, said “it was just devastating” to learn that her unborn baby had myelomeningocele, a severe form of spina bifida. She immediately began making phone calls in her search for a specialist to turn to. One of those phone calls led to learning about the CuRe Trial, a cutting-edge treatment currently being studied at Stewardship Partner UC Davis Health. To meet the 26-week deadline for this procedure, Michelle plunged into the process of screening, testing, and interviewing that was needed so she could give her baby the opportunity to be only the second human patient to receive placental stem cells in utero to repair the spinal cord defect.
Read more about the surgery and the life-changing treatment
The surgery took place just under 26 weeks gestation with more than 30 people in the operating room. To find out more about baby Tobias’s phenomenal outcome, read the full article. Learn how stem cells perform their amazing work and about the doctors who have pioneered this treatment.
