Stem cell heart treatment December 10, 2007

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SAN FRANCISCO, California, Dec. 10, 2007 (NBC) — Richard Karasik is gearing to leave his home in California for the trip of a lifetime to Thailand. He hopes to return with a lifeline.

Richard has heart disease and lives with constant pain. He has had bypass surgery and has tried to improve his diet and exercise more. But he’s up against a strong family history of heart problems.

“My mother had a bypass, my dad died of it, my aunt died of it, my sister had a heart attack,” Richard explained.

So for the past three years, Richard has been researching stem cell procedures that might help him. He found one in Bangkok and is now headed there to undergo a rare stem cell procedure that will help him grow new arteries.

“They’ll draw blood, spin it down, get the stem cells out and then re-inject it into a site of my heart which will stimulate the growth of new arteries in the heart.”

It’s a procedure he could not get here in the U.S. Still, he’s not worried about it being too experimental.

“I don’t feel, based on their track record, that I’m a guinea pig. I wish western medicine would take a lot more note of it.”

After all, if the stem-cell procedure was offered here, he wouldn’t have to pay $48,000.

“It frustrates me I have to pay for it out of pocket.”

Still, Richard says it will all be worth it if he can return to the South Bay with new arteries, a heart that’s pumping more blood and less pain.