Mattaniah Eytan is the founding director of a distinguished law firm in the S. F. Bay Area.
In 2007 when he was 67 years old, much to his surprise because he was feeling well, he was diagnosed with leukemia.
Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells which usually begins in the bone marrow and results in high numbers of abnormal white blood cells. These white blood cells are not fully developed and are cancerous, immature white blood cells called lymphoblasts. Symptoms may include bleeding and bruising problems, feeling very tired, and an increased risk of infections — which are all due to a lack of normal blood cells. Diagnosis is typically by blood tests or bone marrow biopsy.
He was advised by expert oncologists that there was no cure. In fact, all treatment alternatives were strictly palliative and sometimes worse than the symptoms of the disease.
After extensive review of medical literature and relying on a strong gut feeling, Eytan underwent outpatient allogeneic nonmyeloablative stem cell transplantation (NST) at the International Center for Cell Therapy and Cancer Immunotherapy (CTCI) in Tel Aviv.
Remarkably, the treatment was a complete success, with no remaining evidence of disease and no residual side effects. Eytan has since returned to manage his office and enjoys routine life in California.
This is one example of leukemia treated at an early stage of the disease, where cure was accomplished without a single overnight hospital stay. (While receiving treatment, Eytan stayed in a hotel near the Tel Aviv beach.)
Thankfully, the stem cells used were not fetal stem cells, but adult stem cells donated by Eytan’s brother.
~Eowyn