Copyright 2004 Associated Press 
All Rights Reserved
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
December 19, 2004, Sunday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 482 words
DATELINE: AKRON, Ohio

A man disabled by Lou Gehrig's disease hopes experimental treatment in China using cells from an aborted fetus will improve and extend his life.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, has robbed John Winchester, 36, of Medina, of the use of his legs. Confined to a wheelchair, his arms are heavy and now rest at his side most of the time.

Winchester arranged to travel Sunday to China as part of a monthlong quest for hope. He will join a growing number of Americans heading to Beijing for a controversial treatment offered only there.

"We know I can't wait," he said. "I know this is not a sure thing. But I have to try it."

There was a time when Winchester, a devout Roman Catholic, would have bristled at such a procedure, but that was before the reality of his illness became clear.

Winchester still believes abortion is wrong but, given that the Chinese government encourages abortion, he said the fetal cells necessary for this particular procedure are readily available there.

Winchester's wife, Megan Winchester, said after months of researching ALS and potential treatments on the Internet, they came across remarkable testimonials from other sufferers of the disease and paraplegics who turned to a Chinese surgeon experimenting with the insertion of fetal cells into his patients. The hope is that the cells will regrow damaged nerve tissue.

She said they were moved by the accounts of ALS sufferers - some saying they had dramatic improvements in their speech, breathing and movement after receiving injections of the fetal cells.

Seeing no success with treatments offered in the United States, they figure they have nothing to lose, she said.

"Making the decision itself wasn't hard," she said.

The couple turned to a retired art dealer from Dodgeville, Wis., who has become the arranger of such trips for the Chinese doctor, neurosurgeon Huang Hongyun.

Stephen Byer, who said his adult son had the treatment and has seen his ALS stabilize, helps schedule Huang's foreign patients and collects a fee for the $20,000 procedure.

Some medical experts in this country remain skeptical of the treatment because the Rutgers-trained Huang has never conducted clinical studies.

Dr. Robert J. White, a professor of neurosurgery at Case Western Reserve University, said it's unclear whether newly grown nerve tissue, once injected into the brain or spinal cord, has the ability to communicate with its surroundings.

"It's not just a matter of being able to grow some cells," White said. "The real difficulty is about the millions of (neurological) connections that need to be made."

Dr. Stan Gerson, director of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in Cleveland, said research wasn't far enough along to inject cells into humans. "It's an interesting idea, but it's pretty premature," he said.