THANDI SKADE
SPRINGBOK legend Joost van der Westhuizen is hoping a patented technique treatment, never performed in the country before, will help slow the progression of a fatal motor neuron disease in his body.
Two weeks ago, the 40-year-old former scrum-half underwent experimental stem cell therapy treatment to regenerate and re- pair damaged tissue and muscle function.
He became the first South African to undergo this kind of treatment using a technique developed by UK neuroscientist Dr Steve Ray. His doctors said the technique had shown “encouraging” results overseas.
Fat from his abdominal area was harvested, as in liposuction. The abdomen is the richest source of mesenchymal stem cells, which are known to migrate to damaged or injured tissue.
The fat sample was then sent to Netcells Cryogenics, a stem cell lab in Midrand, where the mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from the whole stem cell and put through Ray’s patented technique to formulate a so-called therapeutic that was re-administered into Van der Westhuizen’s body intravenously and injected directly into muscle in his arm and thigh.
Dr Jody Pearl, Van der Westhuizen’s neurologist, said the treatment was all about trying to get his motor cells talking to his muscles again.
“The stem cells find the damaged tissue and attempt to repair it.”
Pearl said that while the treatment was experimental, it was completely safe and, because Van der Westhuizen’s own stem cells had been used, there was no chance of the body rejecting it.
“We don’t know if we’ll be able to help with the MND (motor neuron disease)… (but) therapy is the most promising treatment we have to date in any kind of degenerative condition. But I think we need to be cautiously optimistic.”
Van der Westhuizen was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in July, a form of MND where nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain that control movement deteriorate and die.
Over time, muscles connected to the nerve cells weaken to the point where a person loses strength and the ability to move their body.
Van der Westhuizen first noticed that his right arm had weakened at the end of last year, but he brushed it off as an old sports injury. Then the rest of the right-hand side of his body – where most of his injuries had occurred – weakened. He now speaks slowly and deliberately.
MND is a condition with no cure, and around 350 000 people suffer from the disease worldwide.
Prognosis for the life-threatening neurodegenerative condition is bleak, with an 80 percent mortality rate over a period of two to five years.
But Van der Westhuizen remains optimistic and says he’s ready for the fight of his life.
“I’m going to fight this thing mentally, with the (medical) team, to my best ability. I’m going to fight it.”
In a career that spanned more than 17 years, Van der Westhuizen picked up countless injuries and suffered from “lots of muscle-related trauma”.
That, Pearl said, made it difficult to know whether the weakened muscles were a result of the disease and/or sporting injuries.
The therapy is not available commercially, and Netcells Cryogenics declined to divulge how much the treatment cost.