Music festival to help ailing local residents

About a year ago, Mandeville resident Matt Moss was diagnosed with a progressive, degenerative disorder called spinal cerebellar ataxia.

Cerebellar ataxia is caused by disease of the cerebellum, an area of the brain that coordinates voluntary movement and maintains trunk stability and balance. The disease can also affect breathing and speech.

Before the diagnosis, the 27-year-old had been living with severe muscle weakness, exhaustion and pain for more than four years. When diagnosed, Moss said he was using a walker and found simple activities, such as getting out of bed and brushing his teeth, exhausting.

"I was going downhill fast," he said.

Moss's physicians told him there was no cure for the disease and gave him about four years to live.

"I was shocked," he said.

That was before Moss heard about a group of doctors in Covington who were using adult stem cell therapy to treat various diseases. Tchefuncte Cadiovascular Associates Cellular Therapy has gained attention as a leading research and development company in the field of adult stem cell therapy.

Fortunately, Moss fit the doctor's research criteria and was approved for treatment.

Ten months ago, TCA extracted bone marrow from the hip of Moss's wife, Brittany, incubated those cells to produce 100 million cells from her bone marrow and then injected 80 million of those cells into Moss's spinal cord. The remaining 20 million cells are being stored at a local cryobank where they will multiply and saved should Moss need another treatment.

Moss said he felt better almost immediately after his treatment. He is now walking without assistance and is able to do activities with his three children that he was unable to do before.

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