Imagine a little boy who just turned four. Sadly this little boy only has one month to live since his heart is failing him. His family cannot afford the lifesaving procedure, so they attempt to raise the money. After raising the obscene amount of money, they find out that there are no hearts that can match him at the moment. When they finally find one, it’s too late. The boy dies just two months after his fourth birthday. Now imagine that one of your family members is in this same situation and there is a way to save them. Using stem cells, doctors could grow a new heart and save this family member. Surprisingly enough, the technology to do so is within our grasp. Although stem cells and stem cell research can be considered unethical they …show more content…
It might sound like science fiction, but it is actually slowly becoming a reality. With the evolution of technology, scientists and doctors are able to harness stem cells to grow new organs and tissue to replace the old worn out or disease ridden ones. Stem cells can also be implanted into humans to help save their DNA, which can in turn lead to better production of new cells. According to an article on New Scientist, The reason humans age is basically because their stem cells “run out of juice” and their bodies can no longer cope with new cell turnover to keep their bodies young. (Westphal) Therapeutic uses of regenerative medicine are one of the best uses of stem cells. Using stem cells can make a person ultimately more comfortable while also increasing their health. According to an article about How stem cells could solve organ donation, “This work will no doubt expand the number and type of patients who can be safely managed with tissue or organ transplantation”(Nelson) With technology, it is also getting much easier to harvest and utilize stem cells for these life saving procedures. These stem cells can be taken from aborted fetuses or from the average living person. In the fetus, there are a good deal of stem cells, but they do not always have the ability to match very well with other people. Utilizing one's own stem cells to …show more content…
According to donatelife.net, a website dedicated to inform the public on the dangers of organ failure and what to do to help stop it, “11,000 people die from organ failure, thats about 30 people every day, which is equivalent to twenty two full jumbo jets crashing with no survivors” (CNEWS). Organ transplants can save some but not all of these people since there are complications with the body accepting the organ. Since stem cells are the main building block cells of humans, they can be used to grow organs to be transplanted with few to no complications. According to Organ Donations, “Over the years, tissue and solid-organ transplantation have been used to treat patients with otherwise incurable diseases such as leukemia, cirrhosis, end-stage kidney disease, and cardiopulmonary failure. Although transplantation has proved to be extraordinarily successful for some patients, the limited availability of appropriate organs and tissues and the problem of rejection have created a need for new strategies to meet the demands.” (Nelson). Regenerative medicine, or in other words stem cells, could be the the answer to this problem. This article also mentioned that different stem cells are used for different organs and tissues.. Embryonic stem cells are stem cells taken from an embryo. They have many different uses such as replacing retinal pigment which could