Bart Starr is the legendary former quarterback of the Green Bay Packers football team. During his playing days, the hall-of-famer led the field. Now he is leading in another field. As part of a clinical trial, he is undergoing stem cell treatment for a series of strokes that he suffered.
Starr, 81, had two strokes, seizures, and a mild heart attack last fall. The strokes and seizures left him with some disabilities. "Following Bart's strokes, our family began to investigate numerous therapy options," the Starr family said in a statement released through the Green Bay Packers. "Several months ago we applied for and were accepted into a clinical trial using stem cells."
It is not known which clinical trial Starr is taking part in, or where it is, only that it is investigating stem cells, which are cells that have not differentiated, or specialized, into other kinds of cells. Undifferentiated cells are able to give rise to almost any kind of cell in the body. Embryonic stem cells are obtained from human embryos. Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells that are found in various types of tissue in the body.
A bone marrow transplant contains stem cells and is the only form of stem cell therapy in wide use or approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Clinics in other parts of the world offer stem cell treatments, but these have not necessarily been studied or approved.
Ice hockey hall-of-famer Gordie Howe, 87, underwent stem cell treatments in Mexico after suffering a stroke that left him unable to walk and interfered with speaking. Howe received neural stem cells and his family has reported great improvement.
Starr led the Packers to five National Football League Championships and helped them win the first two Super Bowls. He played for the Packers from 1956 to 1971 and served as coach for the team from 1975 to 1983.
