William Sakakura

My Story:

In May 2007, William started to slur his speech a little. His deteriorated further until finally, in September 2007, he received a diagnosis of ALS.

William Sakakura lost a lot of weight and lost muscle strength, especially in his right hand and arm. He was now slouched when seated. William's condition had deteriorated drastically in a very short amount of time. In the six months between his initial diagnosis and his arrival in Beijing at Tiantan Puhua Hospital, his speech deteriorated significantly, making it very difficult for anyone to understand him, except his wife. William had trouble swallowing liquids, so it was impossible for him to ingest medications in the form of pills. His disease was deteriorating so fast that he noticed changes on a weekly basis.

In November of 2009, William received four stem cell injections via a lumbar puncture in addition to an intravenous stem cell cocktail treatment.

After arriving at Tiantan Puhua hospital and undergoing the first stem cells injection, William and his wife saw the progress of the disease slowing down for the first time in a year. Throughout his five week stay, William’s condition remained stable.
Although eating had proven to be very difficult for William in the past, causing him to lose weight dramatically, in Beijing, William gained weight. His voice grew stronger and although his speech was still weak, William and his wife picked up a few new routines from the speech therapist to work on while at home.

William regained movement in his right arm, which he can now extend and hold up. In addition, he regained movement in his hand and increase the muscle tone.

As the couple prepared to return to California, William and his wife, Yokiko, were happy with the improvements in William’s condition. They are planning to return for an additional treatment to maintain the progress achieved.