Hello and good day!
Here is a piece of good and interesting news.
As I've alluded to many times in the past, my brother Brian has had surgery on both of his shoulders. The primary cause of his busted-up shoulders was his ten years living in the Peruvian jungle running our cacao-buying operation.
That ten-year stretch started when Brian was already 38 years old, and it went on until he was knocking on the door of 50.
He wasn't an old man by any means, but he also wasn't a spring chicken, especially considering the extremely physical nature of the work.
Over the course of a decade, he hauled thousands upon thousands of exportable sacks of cacao. Each sack that we export weighs approximately 110 pounds.
Out in the jungle, the only way to get cacao sacks onto a truck bound for the coast is to hoist them up onto your shoulder and then fling them from your shoulder into the truck's bed.
Brian is a fellow who leads by example, and on export day, he was always in the mix of action, loading and unloading, side by side with the team.
I remember seeing how bad his condition was just prior to the surgeries.
He didn't have enough strength or functionality to lift his hands up to wave at a friend. After the surgeries, things improved significantly, until a couple of years ago, when one of the surgical repairs came undone.
An orthopedist took a look at the shoulder and told Brian that doing another operation wasn't a viable option.
The undoing of the prior surgery happened in such a way that it couldn't be fixed.
This left Brian with the prospect of having a gimpy arm for the rest of his life.
Brian researched his options and eventually decided to try stem cell therapy.
Here in the United States, the more potent form of stem cell treatment, which requires extracting stem cells from umbilical cords and placentas, is illegal.
You can farm your own stem cells in the United States and have them reinjected back into your body. However, the stem cells of older people are apparently not as therapeutic as newer stem cells.
This is logical.
If your own stem cells were capable of repairing your damaged tissue, they'd already be doing it.
However, in Mexico, the more effective treatment is available, and Brian found a clinic run by an American doctor near Puerto Vallarta.
He took the trip down and received his treatment.
I've seen Brian just about every day since he came back over a year ago, and I have personally witnessed, step by step, how his shoulder has improved to the point of complete normal functionality.
It has been an awesome thing to see.
Because of Brian's amazing results, we recommended the treatment to a friend of ours who has Rheumatoid Arthritis.
RA is a terrible and crippling disease.
Unfortunately, many of the people in my wife's family suffer from it, so I have an intimate understanding of just how excruciating it can be.
Long story short, for those afflicted with the disease, their immune system creates an anti-body against their joint fluid. The immune system deploys never ending assaults on the sufferer's joints.
The fellow to whom we recommended the treatment can't walk without pain killers. He has to pop pills every time he wants to venture out into the world.
He bravely endures and, all things considered, he has managed to maintain a very good attitude about the whole thing.
But his ankles, wrists, elbows, and fingers have been completely decimated and he worries about what the pain killers must be doing to his organs.
We all looked into it, and it seemed to us that there was sufficient evidence to indicate that stem cell therapy could repair the tissue damage caused by his attacking immune system.
Also, the literature suggested that the treatment may regulate auto-immune activity in the future.
Our pal didn't have enough money to pay for the entire treatment on his own.
Insurance doesn't cover it.
So, my brother and I each chipped in a third of the cost and our friend paid the remaining third.
He went down to the clinic for treatment two months ago.
It took Brian four months before he saw significant improvement in his shoulder's functionality.
I chatted with my buddy yesterday, and he says he has now gone five days without pain killers. He has been able to walk normally, without excessive pain, for the first time in ten years.
He doesn't want to get his hopes all the way up, because it has only been five days, but he is optimistic.
Obviously, I am not a doctor, and my experience is not statistically significant.
I am not qualified in any way, shape, or form to dispense medical advice.
However, the purpose of my writing these emails every day is to provide extra value free of charge.
That, and I love to write.
But I only learned about my love of writing through the attempted daily provision of interesting information and entertaining story telling.
I had a story all lined up to tell today, but I figured that the most valuable thing I could share was my experience with seeing the effectiveness of stem cell therapy.
If you are suffering from chronic pain, you might want to take this option into consideration.
It is new and not too many people know about it and that is why I am starting to spread the word.
I am seeing it work twice now, up close and personal, with my own two eyes.
Since I am taking the time to share information that you might find beneficial, please allow me to make a book recommendation.
I am a book worm and I read about a million books a year.
From my experience, only roughly 1 out of every 15 books that I read is good enough to tell somebody about.
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt is a phenomenal book about an Irish immigrant who teaches high school English in several New York City public schools.
It is funny, moving, beautifully written, and gives an excellent look at how American teenagers compare with teenagers from other countries.
I had never heard of Frank McCourt before a friend gifted me Teacher Man last week.
I see on the back cover that he won a Pulitzer Prize for one of his other books, Angela's Ashes.
He has more books!
Lucky me.
I will most certainly explore the entire catalogue.
Good books wait for me in the future, and I know about a new treatment that it appears can help people in pain.
These two bits of knowledge add quite a nice dash of zest to my life at present.
It is a very lovely thing to stumble upon good news.
Thank you so much for your time today.
I hope that you have a truly blessed day.
Adam
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