Hope and recovery for Spanish stem-cell patient

Friday, 21st November 2008

Written by Francesca Cookney

The Columbian-born tuberculosis patient who underwent surgery to replace her windpipe with one grown from her own stem cells, has spoken of her joy upon recovery.

Claudia Castillo became the world's first person to be treated successfully using this technology and her revolutionary treatment has paved the way for further advances in tissue engineering.

But Ms Castillo is just happy to be alive: "The moment I woke after the procedure, I looked up at the doctor and he smiled and told me it had been successful - it was the best moment ever," she said. The idea of not being there for her two children was virtually unthinkable, she said, but she was prepared to take the risk if it would avoid the alternative which was to remove a lung.

"I am single mother and it did cross my mind what would happen to them but I couldn't think too much about it and certainly didn't tell them the risk I was taking," she admitted.

She now looks forward to being able to do the sorts of things other mothers do such as taking her kids swimming or to the park and hopes that people will be inspired by her story: "I'm very proud to be the first person ever to have had this," she said. "Not only because it means I am alive but because I took the plunge and made a decision to have the operation when others may have been put off by the risks involved."

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