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Six months ago, Bella Tiesenhausen got on a plane to Panama.

Although a sunny place to travel, the eight-year-old wasn鈥檛 going on vacation. Instead she was making the journey with her mom and family friend to undergo four days of stem cell treatments鈥攖his time with donor cells.

That was Bella鈥檚 second time enduring such a procedure, having had her own stem cells harvested and reintroduced into her body in 2010.

The procedure鈥攚hich isn鈥檛 yet used in Canada鈥攊s available in other countries as a treatment for neurological impairments, like Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, which Bella was diagnosed with on her second birthday.

Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy is caused by insufficient oxygen to the brain. For Bella, this occurred during her last weeks in the womb, when her umbilical cord was tightly wrapped around her neck. The result is cerebral palsy, a non-progressive impairment of motor functions that causes physical disability as a child develops.

In Bella鈥檚 case, it has caused developmental delays, deficient gross and fine motor skills, neural-developmental delay and cognitive impairment.

To put it into perspective, until recently, Bella had never spoke a word in her life and she had lived in a bubble, with little awareness of what was going on around her.

In a leap-of-faith attempt to help her, Bella鈥檚 parents, Connie and Hjalmar, decided to try stem cell treatments when Bella was five years old.

At that time, they had received a bleak outlook from their doctor, who denied to give Bella a referral to the I CAN Centre at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital鈥攁 facility that works with people with speech and communication challenges鈥攕aying, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she has the cognitive functioning to be able to operate an alternate communication device,鈥� recalled Connie.

But she and Hjalmar wouldn鈥檛 accept that, and instead bought Bella her own iPad, which she has used ever since to communicate her basic wants, needs and feelings.

It was also at that time that the parents started researching alternatives for Bella.

Following her first stem cell treatment, with cells harvested from her own hip, Bella went from being an introvert, wrapped up in her own world鈥攏ot even flinching when a door slammed right beside her鈥攖o engaging with the students in her class. She began communicating, using her hands to gesture and point and she started paying attention to what was happening around her.

Building on that success, Connie and Hjalmar decided to try another treatment last October.

Following those four days in Panama, Bella returned home to Jasper and almost immediately she began showing positive results. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, she was making noises and attempting to vocalize, and before long she was saying hi, go, no and yeah.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very guttural right now, but the intention is there. That鈥檚 pretty remarkable,鈥� said Connie. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e just working on that mmm sound for mom. If we get there for Mother鈥檚 Day, I鈥檒l be really happy.鈥�

As well as vocalizing, Bella is also learning to read. In the last two months, her school aid has been showing her pictures and asking her to underline the word that the picture represents.

With tears in her eyes, Connie described how, one day at school, Bella was able to communicate to her that she wanted to go swimming鈥攕he pointed to the word swim and said 鈥淕o!鈥�

鈥淚 was like, 鈥榟ow did she know how to do that?鈥� And the aid said, 鈥榮he knows how to read words now.鈥� And I was like, 鈥極h my goodness, I never would have imagined that possible.鈥欌��

Bella鈥攖he girl who鈥檚 doctor said she didn鈥檛 have the cognitive functioning to use a alternate communication device鈥攊s now up to 50 words and she鈥檚 using her iPad everyday to learn more.

For Connie and Hjalmar, the positive growth they鈥檙e seeing in their daughter is enough reason to get Bella back on the plane to Panama for further treatments. So on April 13, Bella, Connie and their family friend Marla Pollock will take off for another round of stem cells.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 see why we wouldn鈥檛 continue to try and see Bella reach her maximum potential,鈥� said Connie. 鈥淚f we didn鈥檛 try it and in 20 years we read that that鈥檚 how they would have treated Bella, I don鈥檛 think I could live with the regret. If it wasn鈥檛 successful, yeah, we鈥檇 be out a lot of money, but I鈥檇 rather not have any regrets.鈥�

Beginning on Connie鈥檚 birthday, April 14, Bella will receive nine million stem cells a day through an IV鈥攁 total of 36 million cells over four days.

Connie said this time around she hopes that Bella will gain higher cognitive functioning and more speech.

鈥淚鈥檓 so optimistic based on what we鈥檝e seen just in the last six months.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like the place where there always seemed to be a dark hole with no hope is gone. We鈥檝e been given good reason to be positive about the future and where it might take us and what it might look like.鈥�

Nicole Veerman
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