How is Selma Blair treating her multiple sclerosis?
Actress Selma Blair is using an experimental stem cell therapy called HSCT to treat her multiple sclerosis. Image: Instagram Selma Blair revealed via Instagram that she is undergoing a stem cell treatment called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) to slow down her multiple sclerosis.
What happened to Selma Blair?
Actor Selma Blair speaks onstage during the TIME 100 Health Summit at Pier 17 on October 17, 2019 in New York City. Getty Images A year after her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, Selma Blair took to the stage in New York City this week to speak about her stem cell transplant and chemotherapy treatment.
Did Blair Blair have a successful stem cell transplant?
The stem cell transplant is ultimately successful, but it’s not quite the miracle cure that Blair hoped it would be. At the close of the film, she’s able to return to riding her beloved horse but she still faces challenges. “She’s like the rest of us, just getting through the day, good days and bad days,” Fleit said.
What kind of chemo did Blair Underwood have?
Shortly after being diagnosed with MS in 2018, Blair elected to undergo a large amount of chemotherapy—more than most cancer patients, she said in 2019. “The hardest part was that I had no idea how rigorous the chemo would be,” she said.
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Where did Selma Blair get treatment?
Selma Blair had come to Chicago for a little-known but often highly effective multiple sclerosis treatment, pioneered in the United States by Northwestern University's Dr. Richard Burt.
How did Selma Blair get better?
Blair has also spent the last year during the pandemic working with vocal and physical therapists over Zoom to improve her movement and balance. As a result, she's learned helpful techniques to manage her body's minor flare-ups.
Did Selma Blair get a stem cell transplant?
Blair underwent chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant after multiple unsuccessful treatments.
Did Selma Blair recover?
Aug. 17, 2021 -- Actress Selma Blair says she's now in remission after years of a serious multiple sclerosis flare, according to People. Blair, 49, was diagnosed with the chronic immune disease in 2018. During a year of intense pain, she had a hard time speaking and couldn't fully use her left leg.
Can MS be cured by stem cell?
While there is no cure for MS, stem cell therapy can help improve a person's symptoms and slow down the progression of the disease. Stem cell therapy is an experimental treatment that people can access through clinical trials. MS causes the body to direct an immune response to its own central nervous system.
Is chemotherapy used to treat multiple sclerosis?
Although the word is better known as a description of treatments for cancer, several chemotherapy drugs have been used in multiple sclerosis as disease modifying drugs. Chemotherapy is also used in stem cell therapies for MS.
How was Jack Osbourne diagnosed with MS?
After extensive testing—including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and lumbar puncture (spinal tap)—Osbourne was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS)—the most common form of the degenerative, neurologic condition.
What can cause multiple sclerosis?
The cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown. It's considered an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. In the case of MS , this immune system malfunction destroys the fatty substance that coats and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord (myelin).
What actress has multiple sclerosis?
Selma BlairOct 20 (Reuters) - In October 2018, Selma Blair announced to her fans that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an incurable debilitating neurological condition in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves.
How long can you live with MS?
One study has found that the average life expectancy for people with MS is 76 years of age. In 2019, the U.S. life-expectancy averaged 78.8 years, and in 2020 it declined to 77.3 years, primarily due to the COVID pandemic. Many people with MS may live for 25 to 35 years or longer after their diagnosis.
When did Selma Blair get stem cell transplant?
In “Introducing, Selma Blair,” the actress opens up about how she is embracing the disease and how she is feeling after undergoing a stem cell transplant in 2019.
Can MS be cured?
There's currently no cure for multiple sclerosis (MS), but medicines and other treatments can help control the condition [JJ1] and ease some of the symptoms. Treatment for MS depends on the stage of the disease and the specific symptoms the person has. It may include: treating relapses of MS symptoms (with steroids)
What is Selma Blair's treatment called?
Image: Instagram. Selma Blair revealed via Instagram that she is undergoing a stem cell treatment called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) to slow down her multiple sclerosis. This experimental treatment uses chemotherapy to reset and rebuild a patient’s immune system. The therapy includes many of the risks and side effects ...
Why did Selma Blair do HSCT?
In a recent Instagram post, actress Selma Blair showed off her newly shaven head and announced she “did HSCT” in an effort to slow down the progression of her multiple sclerosis. This left many in the MS community wondering about the specifics of this new and relatively unknown treatment for MS.
Does HSCT need FDA approval?
He further explained that HSCT does not fall under the jurisdiction of needing an FDA approval because it is a procedure and not a specific drug. All the medications and protocols used are FDA approved for other indications. “HSCT is not readily available.
Does stem cell therapy work for MS?
Bebo explained that some procedures for MS use more mild forms of chemotherapy to keep part of the immune system in tact. Other procedures using stronger chemo carry greater risks.
Can MS patients go back to HSCT?
“Once you do [HSCT] you can’t go back. It is making a permanent change to your immune system,” he said.
Who performed the first phase 2 of HSCT?
What researchers know about HSCT. In 2018, the first phase 2 clinical trial for HSCT was performed by Dr. Richard Burt , chief of immunotherapy and autoimmune diseases at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois. Some called it a game changer. A common misconception is that HSCT will reverse MS progress.
Does HSCT reverse MS?
A common misconception is that HSCT will reverse MS progress. It has only shown success in stopping MS activity. “Bone marrow does not provide new cells for brain building. They give you derived bone marrow cells like T and B cells,” Dr. Jaime Imitola, FAAN, director of multiple sclerosis and translational neuroimmunology at the University ...
What did Burt say about the FDA warning?
The Scientist goes into details of the FDA warning and quotes Burt as saying the letter had nothing to do with his sudden sabbatical: “Burt stresses that the closure of his clinic is not linked to issues cited in the FDA letter.
How much did Burt charge for the trial?
He raises the point that the Burt program charged $100,000 or more to participate in the trial. Also, in late 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Burt, alleging that the trial “violated regulations governing the proper conduct of clinical studies involving investigational new drugs … .”.
What is Burt's HSCT protocol?
universities and clinics to make his HSCT protocol more available, saying, “This is in my assessment … the best way to help the world, and humanity, and help patients to move this forward, to get the treatment more widely around the world.”.
When did Burt's MS trial end?
Though the formal MS clinical trial ended in July 2016, Blair was treated this summer, possibly under the FDA’s expanded access process.
Is Richard Burt's stem cell program shutting down?
Richard Burt, MD, the chief of Northwestern Medicine’s immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases division, is taking a sabbatical, and the stem cell program he has headed for many years, which treated a number of people with MS, is shutting down.
What did Selma Blair talk about?
A year after her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, Selma Blair took to the stage in New York City this week to speak about her stem cell transplant and chemotherapy treatment. The outspoken “Cruel Intentions” actress spoke at the TIME 100 Health Summit on Thursday in a bright pink Christian Dior pantsuit. Blair, 47, carried a cane onstage and used ...
When was Selma Blair's health summit?
Selma Blair poses backstage during the TIME 100 Health Summit at Pier 17 on October 17, 2019 in New York City. Getty Images. The actress said undergoing chemotherapy treatment forced her to consider what would happen in the event of her death.
Is Selma Blair out of options?
Selma Blair was 'out of options' before undergoing chemo for treatment of MS. “My dream is to lie next to my son at night and be there as long as he needs me,” she said. Actor Selma Blair speaks onstage during the TIME 100 Health Summit at Pier 17 on October 17, 2019 in New York City. Getty Images.
