1
00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,440
I felt really like I'd been dealt
the worst card anyone can be dealt.

2
00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,480
I was very much like, "I'll deal with
it, but I am the most unlucky
person."

3
00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:18,080
For all the wonders of modern
medicine, there are some
things it simply can't cure.

4
00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:24,880
The condition is going to cause my
demise at some point.

5
00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:29,720
That does actually get you in the
head you know and then you wake up
and you think, "I'm here, good."

6
00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,840
But medical science claims to
be on the verge of a revolution,

7
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:39,120
one that could heal our bodies
in ways never imagined before.

8
00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:40,840
It's actually beating. Yeah.

9
00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,560
Isn't that cool?
That is absolutely amazing.

10
00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:53,280
Horizon follows three young people
with currently untreatable
conditions who want to be cured.

11
00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,480
The scale of the challenge is...
I really just can't begin

12
00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:03,920
to get my head around
where they start.
Where do you begin with all of this?

13
00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,800
There's no question that if there was
a cure I'd find a way to get there.

14
00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:14,040
Each of them will come face
to face with the scientists
who claim to have an answer.

15
00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:15,720
Are you Dean? Hi, I am Dean.

16
00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,320
I am Doris. In that little bump,

17
00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:20,840
everything you need to know. Yeah.

18
00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,160
So we generate your leg in that bump.

19
00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,240
I promise you that, I know that.

20
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:33,360
They need to find out if some of the
promises are too good to be true.

21
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,520
Oh, wow, I'd say he's walking.

22
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:45,360
Or could this really be the
beginning of a new age
of miracle cures?

23
00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,320
There's a part of me that
really thinks I will walk again.

24
00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:08,400
I'd just finished school and
I was really excited about the
future, and going off to uni and

25
00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:14,600
meeting new friends and you know
being able to go out clubbing all
the time and not be at school.

26
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,280
It was just about the next
phase of life.

27
00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:26,600
When I was 15,
16, that's when I really
started getting into rugby.

28
00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,720
All my friends played
and they stuck me out on the wing,

29
00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,240
because I was not the
best catcher or kicker,

30
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,520
but I could run quite quickly.

31
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:39,680
I've always been quite active.

32
00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,600
I refereed, was a football referee.
Enjoyed that running around on a

33
00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,520
Saturday and Sunday,
taking the boys to football

34
00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,760
and playing with them
and doing you know the, what a
father would do with their kids.

35
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,280
I never thought at all that
I would be struck down with

36
00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,960
anything that was going to affect
my life in the way that it did.

37
00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,840
If someone had said, "In about two
weeks time,

38
00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:10,320
"you're going to have a car accident
to change your life," I would just...

39
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,640
God, you know, no way!

40
00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:19,160
God no. You have no idea so yeah,
yeah, very clueless.

41
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,520
All I can remember is
Pete hitting my shinbone
so his full weight went straight

42
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:34,880
through my right shinbone and
basically put what looked like a
new joint in the middle of my leg.

43
00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,320
I remember driving really fast.

44
00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,480
I remember the music
playing and I remember talking to
the guy on my left, and then I

45
00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:50,120
turned back round and the corner was
right there so I just spun the wheel
too fast and lost control and...

46
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:51,840
and that was it, yeah.

47
00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,760
So that's the last memory.
I don't really remember much else.

48
00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:02,520
Dean was 33 when a rare condition
began killing off the muscles
of his heart.

49
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:08,680
I had a heart rate of 220
and I'd gone purple and the
veins in my neck here had become

50
00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,880
engorged with blood because my
heart wasn't able to, I know now,
to pump the blood round my body.

51
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:23,480
The day before Anthony turned 18
he broke his leg in a rugby match.

52
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,240
It seemed like a
simple injury to fix.

53
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:33,160
I remember being
really shocked the first time I saw
it, after it had been amputated.

54
00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,720
I think my,
my shock was quite physical.

55
00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:40,640
My physio came down with me
and I think she got a bit upset
at my reaction to it as well.

56
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,680
Sophie Morgan's spinal cord was
damaged in the accident,

57
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,800
leaving her
paralysed from the waist down.

58
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,720
The first time I got
into a wheelchair,
it was literally like being reborn.

59
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:03,000
It's so hard to describe but
because I couldn't feel my body,

60
00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,240
I didn't know where my body was, so
I was just like floating almost.

61
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,880
It was bizarre. From then on I
thought this is going to be weird.

62
00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,400
All three live with conditions
which for now cannot be cured,

63
00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,160
but there is one emerging area of
science that connects all three,

64
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,880
one that is promising
to heal them all.

65
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:37,440
Scientists believe that the
potential to repair ourselves lies
at the very earliest stage of life,

66
00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:43,880
in a single incredible
controversial cell -

67
00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,280
an embryonic stem cell.

68
00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:51,280
These are the very first cells that
initiate life itself,

69
00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:55,800
created as the fertilised egg
divides in the first few days.

70
00:05:55,800 --> 00:06:02,160
When you look down the microscope
at embryonic stem cells, you know you
can't help but just marvel at them.

71
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,760
What's really amazing about
embryonic stem cells in particular

72
00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:07,680
is the fact that, that these cells

73
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,720
can generate we think every
single cell type in the body.

74
00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,800
They are the fundamental building
blocks of life because they are what

75
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:20,120
at the very earliest stages will
give rise to everything in the body
and ultimately to you and I.

76
00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:29,320
In the womb, these cells
retain their ability to become any
part of the body for just six days.

77
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:38,560
But medical science wants to
understand and control this brief
and unique ability.

78
00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,600
We can induce these cells to divide
and divide.

79
00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:50,600
We can literally generate trillions
and trillions and trillions of cells,
and even after that huge expansion,

80
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,960
these cells should still be
capable of differentiating into
every cell type in the body.

81
00:06:54,960 --> 00:07:02,000
We can then begin to create cells
that can repair tissues in a way
that the body itself can't do.

82
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,080
We've never had
anything like this before,

83
00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,920
and I think cells like this will
completely revolutionise medicine.

84
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:19,680
The use of embryonic stem
cells is controversial,
but it's the promise of reversing

85
00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:26,560
a host of incurable conditions
that's made them the holy grail
of 21st century medicine...

86
00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:35,000
..generating a new sense of hope
for people like Sophie,
Dean, and Anthony.

87
00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,080
If I could grow a leg back,
I'd love to do something really...

88
00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:45,200
I don't care what it is, just do
something very simple, I'd just
love to go to a beach,

89
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,040
kick the shoes off, take the
dog for a really long walk
down the beach.

90
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,400
That, that would be the one thing
that I would love to do.

91
00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:59,000
But will the promise of
stem cells really deliver?

92
00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,000
Will the revolution come in time?

93
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,920
I'd like them to discover the
way to cure my heart condition

94
00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,440
so I can get back to
how it was beforehand.

95
00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,680
Just to do the
simple things in life

96
00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:22,960
with the children and just be there
and be their dad.

97
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:33,360
The dreams of so many people are
resting on the curative power
of this extraordinary single cell.

98
00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,560
There's a million things
I'd like to do again,

99
00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:44,840
but definitely up there would be to
be able to dance again.

100
00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:49,640
Yeah that would be pretty good.
I think I'd dance until
I could not dance any more.

101
00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,440
But there's a problem

102
00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,760
because the very thing that makes
embryonic stem cells so exciting

103
00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,360
also makes them incredibly
difficult to control.

104
00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,400
If I put 50,000 undifferentiated
human embryonic stem cells

105
00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:11,680
into a mouse, I would
get a tumour.

106
00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,600
This ball of teeth, hair and muscle

107
00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:22,000
is the consequence of losing control
of embryonic stem cells.

108
00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,520
You know you're always constantly
fighting this battle between

109
00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:32,320
the cells wanting to turn into
organs and tissues, and you trying to
block that.

110
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:35,840
That's the real problem with
these cells - learning how
to control that process.

111
00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:44,040
How do you take a cell that wants to
turn into every cell type, and turn
it into only one specific cell type?

112
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:50,760
It's a massively complex puzzle
that scientists around the world
have faced.

113
00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:55,120
And the progress of work has
been really painstakingly slow
over the last five or six years

114
00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:59,800
simply because we had to learn how to
work with these cells that
we'd never had before.

115
00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:05,440
The complexity is still expanding.
We haven't reached the end of it yet.

116
00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:10,320
While scientists
grapple with the problems,

117
00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:15,040
it's an agonising wait for people
whose lives could be transformed.

118
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:22,320
As with everything else in life,
it would seem that a more immediate
answer lies only a click away.

119
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,840
"Human foetal stem cells,
treatment available today.

120
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,360
"The future is already here."

121
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,840
You see all the different
things that it can help -

122
00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,960
Alzheimer's, cardiovascular
diseases, cerebral palsy, diabetes,

123
00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:41,360
failed back surgery syndrome,
spinal cord injuries and strokes.

124
00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:43,440
So many people that it can help.

125
00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,240
It's amazing isn't it?

126
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,040
And they're all really positive.

127
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:56,040
Around the world
some private clinics claim they can
cure you with stem cells today.

128
00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:02,480
Practising in countries with fewer
regulations, these doctors appear
to have all the answers right now.

129
00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:08,200
And Sophie's attention has been
caught by one particular doctor.

130
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:12,640
'We are dealing with patients
of incurable and terminal conditions.

131
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:18,120
'Therapy here is the
first of its kind in the world.

132
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:23,640
'Patients start walking which they
have not done for the
last five years.'

133
00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:26,720
Geeta Shroff's Indian clinic
claims to have already treated

134
00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,920
500 patients successfully
and the testimonies look impressive.

135
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:38,040
"My story, at the age
of twenty-four I sustained a complete
spinal cord injury and now..."

136
00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,560
Look, there's actual videos of her
walking. Look this is a video of her.

137
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,880
Oh, my word! Yeah walking down.
That was in India.

138
00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,080
She's like laughing uncontrollably,
but... I know, it's amazing isn't
it?

139
00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,960
Amazing, and this is with...

140
00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,160
Geeta Shroff? Geeta Shroff, yeah.

141
00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,760
Although
it can cost up to £20,000

142
00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:09,880
for treatment in India,
the online images make it tempting.

143
00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:17,280
I think it's really brave of people
to take that risk and spend the money
and go out to these places,

144
00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:23,880
and really hope and try. And the
ones that have had success -
it's just fantastic.

145
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:29,160
Because every part of me thinks
you know you don't have to
do what you're told to do.

146
00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:34,280
If someone says the treatment's
out there, then go and get it.
Do you know what I mean?

147
00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,640
Just because your doctor says it's
not - doctors aren't always right.

148
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,760
In often cases they're
pretty much wrong.

149
00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:49,760
The flat's so different from up here.
Yeah.

150
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,520
Sophie's heading off to find out if

151
00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:57,320
there really has been a breakthrough
that could get her back on her feet.

152
00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,440
Further forward, and then...

153
00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,560
Like thousands of other
people desperate for a cure,

154
00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:15,720
Sophie's not sure whether to risk
going for treatment right now...

155
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,400
..or wait
for mainstream medicine to catch up.

156
00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:30,200
It's so unnatural to be you know in
a chair and not be able to walk

157
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,640
and it's so,
it goes against everything

158
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,720
that makes sense really in your mind,

159
00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:40,000
so I don't think that coming to terms
with it has actually been an option.

160
00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:46,560
I really really really want to
walk again. I mean that's,
that's something

161
00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:48,240
that I really want to happen.

162
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,240
You know I'm
very used to being an amputee.

163
00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,160
It's actually one of the
things I'm very proud of.

164
00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,480
This is the prosthetic running leg.

165
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,920
Done a couple of half
marathons on this and this is a

166
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:09,760
fantastic bit of kit really.

167
00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:13,480
Very very rarely
I'll leave home without it.

168
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,800
Whenever I go through airport
security, I've probably got
a similar amount of metal

169
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:22,520
attached to my knee as you find
in an AK-47 which is normally all
right until you go to America

170
00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,440
and then everyone looks at
you and reaches for their hip!

171
00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:37,080
Although Anthony has adapted to life
without his leg, when he broke it,
it was hard to be as stoical.

172
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:42,840
Normally you break a leg and your
body sorts itself out.

173
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,280
In my case though there's a
bit of a catalogue of errors.

174
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,440
A botched pinning procedure
led to eighteen operations

175
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,640
and an MRSA infection which caused
the disintegration of his shinbone.

176
00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:57,360
I was in pain all the time.

177
00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:02,400
MRSA, it is a particularly nasty
infection in terms of what it
does to you

178
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:09,160
and every time you thought
it couldn't get any worse, it would
suddenly get much, much worse.

179
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,040
It was a bit like a horror
film in that sense.

180
00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:17,760
The infected bone was lost for good
and eventually amputation
was the only option.

181
00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:22,000
Now he's on his way to Finland
to witness a remarkable procedure

182
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:28,440
that could make horrific experiences
like this a thing of the past.

183
00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:37,440
I think it will be exciting
to see this real stuff of
science fiction put into practice.

184
00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:45,360
But the stem cells that
Anthony's about to see
don't come from embryos.

185
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:52,800
Scientists have discovered another
source in all of us -

186
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:54,920
adult stem cells.

187
00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:03,560
There are a number of different stem
cell populations that are being
described coming from adult tissues

188
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,960
that we didn't know about it
maybe five years ago.

189
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:10,240
So, like everything in this field,
it's just an ever-expanding body
of knowledge

190
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,960
that changes very rapidly.

191
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:19,640
Adult stem cells are already
more specialised which makes

192
00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:26,440
them less adaptable, but that
also makes them easier to transform
into certain types of cell.

193
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,840
Embryonic stem cells, we view as
being the most versatile cells
because they can make everything

194
00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,640
including all of these
adult stem cell populations.

195
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,320
But adult stem cell
populations in their own right

196
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,960
have tremendous clinical utility,
but for very specific
clinical conditions.

197
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:51,480
Because adult stem cells are easier
to control, scientists are already
using them in trials with patients.

198
00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:00,280
Anthony has come to Tampere
University, the first place

199
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,920
in the world claiming to have
turned adult stem cells into bone.

200
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,160
Hello Professor Ohman. How are you?

201
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,120
Very well thanks, yourself?
Fine thank you. Good stuff.

202
00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:16,720
He's come to their operating
theatre to see the cells in action.

203
00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:22,640
He's been in theatre many times,
but this will be the first
time he's been awake.

204
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,160
Should be OK in the operation,
I think. Someone catch me if I fall!

205
00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:36,240
Socks and leather shoes are the
bane of my life,

206
00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,440
but I think it should be OK.

207
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,760
There you go, that should be stuck
on there.

208
00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:51,120
Surgeon Juha Ohman is attempting one
of the first operations
of its kind -

209
00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:54,200
rebuilding a skull using stem
cells.

210
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:58,720
The patient, Marku,
lost a large section of bone

211
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,400
in his forehead through infection
just like the bone in Anthony's leg.

212
00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:10,880
This is the CT scan of the patient's
skull and as you can see here,

213
00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,560
this is the area that is missing
bone.

214
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,160
It's quite stark isn't it when
you see it like this? Yeah.

215
00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:24,720
Two weeks ago Marku had liposuction.

216
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,920
Fat is a great source
of adult stem cells.

217
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:33,920
The 50,000 cells were then grown
into 15 million in the lab.

218
00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,480
Then a carefully balanced
cocktail of growth factors was added

219
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:43,640
triggering the stem cells
to turn into bone, and nothing else.

220
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,480
Half an hour into the operation and
the stem cells arrive from the lab.

221
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,840
Juha has exposed the area
that is missing skull bone.

222
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:09,920
Stem cells. Right.

223
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:26,960
It's quite hard and it's like,
like a little bit sticky. I see.

224
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:33,320
How long will it be before
the sort of porridge becomes
solid, solid bone?

225
00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:38,320
I think within, within three months

226
00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:43,240
it will be soft bone and in six
months it will be bone.

227
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,080
The team has also grown
missing sections of jawbones

228
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,880
and soon hopes to tailor-make
whole bones for transplant.

229
00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,920
You see? Satisfied?

230
00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,720
I think it looks all right.
Good, OK.

231
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:07,320
So just
finished with Marku's operation.

232
00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:13,120
Obviously with me having
that infection in my shinbone,
I mean the same principle applies.

233
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:18,440
If someone's had the same problem in
five years time, you could have
a sandwich of stem cells

234
00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:23,920
between layers of scaffolding
and then the whole shinbone's back
and working again in six months.

235
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:27,560
It's very, very exciting.

236
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:31,520
Although this stem cell
treatment is too late for Anthony,

237
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:35,560
he's about to find out what research
has been done that could help him.

238
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,120
Sophie's arrived in California.

239
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,800
She's been following online
testimonies of people

240
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:06,120
claiming to healed and now she's
about to meet one of
them face to face.

241
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,720
Chris Oberle who's been to see
Geeta Shroff.

242
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:16,280
Oh, wow!

243
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,880
So he's walking.

244
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,600
Chris paid 30,000 dollars for
treatment with embryonic stem cells

245
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:28,160
at the Indian clinic, with
what looks like incredible results.

246
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:34,200
I'm looking forward to meeting
him to ask him how much
the treatment has made a difference.

247
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:39,800
If it turns out that
what has happened to him is something
that could happen to me,

248
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:44,800
then I'd definitely look into it.
I mean I'd be there in a
heartbeat if I believed in it.

249
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,560
Chris asked her to meet
him at a local surfers' beach.

250
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:00,760
Hi! Hello.

251
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,560
Is this your dog?

252
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,880
That's Bruno.
Hello Bruno! Hi, Chris. How are you?

253
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:12,760
Nice to meet you, how you doing?
Good, good. You should go out.

254
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:17,240
I'm an underwater not on top of the
water kind of person. No, no.

255
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:26,720
But the reality about any dramatic
change in Chris
is beginning to dawn.

256
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:52,320
I was looking at your website
last night and there was a video
of you walking in callipers.

257
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,920
When I saw it I was quite,
"Wow that's amazing."

258
00:22:54,920 --> 00:23:02,000
That was a huge plus and that was
something that was, I'm really
glad about.

259
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,120
I mean that I went, that I had that
experience there so...

260
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:07,240
A lot of the things that
I was seeing in India,

261
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:12,120
that they were claiming as results,
I've seen people make those advances
just through physical therapy.

262
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:14,040
Just through a lot of... Really?

263
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,960
It wasn't like you were cured
and you could stand up and walk?

264
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,280
No. It's just the callipers. Right.
OK.

265
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,200
So...what did she do?

266
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:25,880
OK. They insert a catheter into your
spinal column

267
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,960
and they insert the
stem cells directly into your cord.

268
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,360
She just said, "Look
it knows where it's needed.

269
00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:37,840
"It'll home into that
spot and it'll work there."

270
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:43,760
So did you feel an immediate
difference after the treatment
or did it take a while?

271
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,600
I never felt the difference. Really?
Yeah. Really?

272
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:54,400
So, yeah I never felt
the difference.
So what...even afterwards, nothing?

273
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,240
Nothing. Really? So...

274
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,000
And I mean a lot of people do.

275
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,600
I just didn't so... And it makes
me feel like maybe I didn't do
something right while I was there.

276
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,400
Maybe I should have been
doing something differently,

277
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,520
but I don't know what I could
have done differently. I think no.

278
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,960
I think after
looking at Chris's website

279
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:24,000
before I met him, I definitely felt
encouraged I suppose,

280
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,920
so it kind of was a disappointment,
but then it's definitely not made me
think,

281
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,640
"There's no cure out there and what
they're doing is not right."

282
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,000
I mean I know
Chris didn't have any results,

283
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,560
but I'm sure there are
people out there that have.

284
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,280
Sophie still doesn't know if she
should go abroad for treatment

285
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:56,600
and with few hard facts available,
she's just as confused.

286
00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:04,080
It's hard to know what's
truth and what's fabrication.
It's so hard to know.

287
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:08,600
You're very much on your own if you
want to go and explore those avenues.

288
00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:14,600
So she's off to meet a man
who has more of an overview.

289
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:21,520
Neurologist Bruce Dobkin
at the University of California
is the only doctor who's examined

290
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:28,680
spinal cord injury patients before
and after going abroad for stem
cell treatment,

291
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:30,280
this time in China.

292
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,640
So with these patients, did you see
an improvement?

293
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,440
We didn't detect any improvement.

294
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,440
There were
some interesting things.

295
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,760
Two of them said they got
substantially better.

296
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:54,000
One mother reported the
quality of life of her son was
so much better, and do you know why?

297
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,960
Couldn't walk better,
he couldn't use his bladder better.

298
00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:59,720
He didn't have any less pain.

299
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,880
He decided to go back to school
and he had a girlfriend.

300
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:08,400
And he finally decided to get on
with his life, but the surgeon read

301
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:14,560
the e-mail in China and said, "See,
the quality of his life is better
because I gave him cells."

302
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:20,760
The statements that
are made by people
who are financially benefiting

303
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:25,600
from drawing and attracting
more people to pay more money

304
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,880
aren't necessarily the kind of
things you'd want to believe.

305
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:34,360
I think that people who have raised
money from friends and family...

306
00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:40,160
They had spent 50,000 dollars
and I think when you spend that
much money it's very easy to be...

307
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,880
To feel that what I did
helped a little bit.

308
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,600
I hear this a lot. I hear a lot of
people saying that a
lot of patients -

309
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,480
it's almost like a placebo effect.

310
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:55,120
But you cannot
wish a spinal cord injury better.

311
00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:59,680
People will go out to these clinics
and they've had improved bladder
control or they've had a massive

312
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,960
difference in things that you
cannot use physiotherapy for.

313
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,480
And so how can you dispute that
maybe there is,

314
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,200
maybe they can, maybe it can be done?

315
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:15,040
Maybe these things, the stem cell
injections can actually in these,
these places help people?

316
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:22,520
When I talk to the people that
sell cells, and then I say, 
"If your cells work so well,

317
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,400
"why in the world can't
we set up a small clinical trial?"

318
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,120
They all say, "Well we're
going to do that some day."

319
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:33,400
Here's someone who's out there
and saying, "My cells are so smart,

320
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,240
"they're going to
know just where to go.

321
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:40,920
"They're going to reintegrate
your nervous system in that area
and fix your problem."

322
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:45,360
It's beyond science fiction.

323
00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:48,800
If this works so well,
why would you be afraid

324
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:54,840
to do a simple trial with
fifty of your subjects who would be
more than happy to participate?

325
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,560
In the absence of that
it's completely unethical

326
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:03,240
for physicians to be selling
a treatment. That's snake oil.

327
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,120
It's just that, it's terrible.

328
00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:10,640
It's exploitation.

329
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,760
They're just playing on the hopes of
these desperate people.

330
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:16,360
So awful.

331
00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:20,920
Good luck. Thank you, bye!

332
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,240
Keep on doing well in your life.

333
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:24,760
I will.

334
00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:35,520
It's been enough to make Sophie
reassess if an unregulated clinic
could help her walk again.

335
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:42,560
While I've always tried to have an
open mind when it comes to making my
mind up about where I get treated

336
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:48,240
and I don't have to definitely follow
the instructions of my GP

337
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:55,240
or the rules that are dictated over
in England and Europe,

338
00:28:55,240 --> 00:29:01,000
I have to say that I kind of
feel like they're there for
a reason and those rules

339
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,160
are there for your protection really.

340
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,280
And that's why I think I should
listen

341
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:13,720
and not go to pursue my own
little journey somewhere else
over in India or China.

342
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,280
I should just wait until
it is safe and it has been tested.

343
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:24,040
It's made Sophie understand
the need for regulated trials.

344
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:28,320
She's lost hope
in an immediate cure.

345
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,920
It was just too...

346
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,960
It was just too much luck.

347
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,000
I don't know, it was just too
good to be true.

348
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:43,400
She's now going to find out
just how close mainstream science is
to getting her back on her feet.

349
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:54,000
The promise of stem
cells is tantalising, but uncertain,
for the people who could be healed.

350
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:59,440
But the scientists
are confident that this revolution
in medicine will happen.

351
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:06,840
Up until very recently our whole
way of treating disease has been to
treat the symptoms of a disease.

352
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,240
What regenerative medicine
using stem cells addresses
is actually getting at the

353
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:16,520
underlying causes of the disease
and not just treating the symptoms,
but actually undoing the damage.

354
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:22,520
For Sophie and Anthony, stem
cells could improve their lives.

355
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:27,560
But for Dean, a breakthrough
could save him from an early death.

356
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:34,280
The condition is going to cause my
demise at some point.

357
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,840
That does get you in the head and
you wake up and you think,
"I'm here, good."

358
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,360
Come on Bill, you got to land one!

359
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:52,480
Five years ago family man Dean
was diagnosed with a rare heart
condition -

360
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,800
dilated cardiomyopathy,

361
00:30:55,800 --> 00:31:00,760
which could cause
death at any moment.

362
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:06,320
Leaving the children behind, not
seeing them grow up, you know,

363
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,120
it's really quite difficult
to think about it now
because it's quite emotional.

364
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,280
Although drugs have
stabilised Dean's condition,

365
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:20,600
the gradual death of muscle cells
have permanently weakened his heart.

366
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,800
But Dean's condition may also
leave his children with a terrifying
legacy.

367
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:31,560
For each of his kids,
there's a 50% chance
that Dean's passed it onto them.

368
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,480
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't
do anything differently
in my life with you lot.

369
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:41,000
I would still have you, because I
love you all to bits

370
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,560
and you're important to me, but as a
parent the most difficult thing

371
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,320
that you could possibly do
is pass something down.

372
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,400
It's something
that only God knows why because
we've got no control over it,

373
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,080
but if I've passed something...
You can't help it.

374
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,400
I can't, but if I've passed
something down

375
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:01,200
and I haven't taken the steps to
protect you, it would be so bad.

376
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,760
Dean's going to find out
if stem cells can save him
and maybe his children.

377
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,800
For now,
a heart transplant offers the only

378
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:16,320
permanent solution, but he is on his
way to witness a pioneering trial

379
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,080
that may lead to the cure he needs.

380
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,480
You know beforehand I've
just been relying on the
drugs that I've been given

381
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,520
but that just stabilises my
condition.

382
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:29,360
If this can help repair it
then this is a fantastic day,

383
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,920
not just for me, but for
a lot of other people as well.

384
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:39,720
Dean's come to the London Chest
Hospital to meet cardiologist
Dr Anthony Mathur

385
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,480
who's conducting one of the first
ever trials

386
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,320
to see if adult stem cells
can improve damaged hearts.

387
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,040
Hi, Dean! Hi, Dr Mathur! Welcome to
the London Chest. Thank you.

388
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:53,080
So you've come to see what we're
up to with our stem cell trials?

389
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,080
Yeah. What
are you doing today then?

390
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,880
We're trying to ask the question
whether using your own stem cells,

391
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,240
not embryonic or anything like
that, but your own stem cells,
purifying them and putting them

392
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,520
back into the heart can actually lead
to an improvement in heart function.

393
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,120
OK. So is this something that could
help me in the future?

394
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,960
Yeah. At the moment we're
testing it in people who have been

395
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,840
told they have no other option
and so what we've done is
we've set up a trial

396
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:22,840
in which we randomise the patients to
receive either cells
or a placebo injection.

397
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:28,880
I know some people find that a
bit of a strange concept, that
we're giving a placebo,

398
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,040
but really in medical trials it's the
only way you can actually work out

399
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,120
whether your therapy
has made a difference.

400
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:40,160
Six months ago Brian
had stem cells removed from his
bone marrow for his procedure.

401
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:44,520
He then had a series of
injections into his damaged heart.

402
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:49,640
As the patient's own stem cells
are used, there's no issue
of the body rejecting them.

403
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,080
You all right there, Brian?
OK. We're about to start.

404
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,200
Obviously you might feel your
heart jumping around a bit.

405
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,200
Today Dr Mathur is creating a
detailed map of Brian's
heart function

406
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:08,440
with a special electrode to
see if there's been any improvement.

407
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,360
Really interesting.

408
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,440
Yeah.
It's fantastic to see it in 3D.

409
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:15,640
Yeah the picture slowly
building as he's...

410
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:17,240
Virtually finished.

411
00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:19,160
Just a little bit more,

412
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,800
so if you just want to tidy it up,
I want to take the catheter out

413
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,120
and then we'll get Dean in to
show him the map, yeah?

414
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:30,480
Red is bad. Red is part of the
heart that's been badly damaged.

415
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:36,560
Blue and purple is good,
and green is that part of the heart
that sort of can't make its mind up.

416
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,520
It's not alive enough but
equally it hasn't been lost.

417
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,600
That's the bit you're looking to
work on. That's the bit, yeah.

418
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,840
And what happens in the green
zone is that although the heart
is alive, it doesn't work.

419
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:48,720
OK.

420
00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:53,240
The hope is that the stem cells
will regenerate dormant heart cells

421
00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:57,320
in this green border zone,
and improve heart function.

422
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:04,200
But the rigorous rules
of a double blind trial
mean that Dr Mathur isn't

423
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,200
allowed to see his results until
the last patient has been treated.

424
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:15,080
Will you have any idea from the
patients that you've already seen

425
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,640
if they've had the placebo or
if they've had the..?

426
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,280
Have you got any hunches at all?

427
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,040
I've got absolutely no idea at all.

428
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:28,440
I think what's really fascinating is
that in the group of people who are
predicted to continue to deteriorate

429
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,360
because they have such
bad heart disease,
we do see people who get better.

430
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:37,400
This trial may be just a first step,
but if stem cells can reverse heart

431
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:43,760
damage, the implications for people
like Dean and possibly his children
are enormous.

432
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:48,720
What they're doing is going to
change the future
for a lot of people

433
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:53,920
and you can only be optimistic.
You know it might not.
I'm a realist, it might not happen

434
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:58,680
in my lifetime, but to think that
they're doing that and it would be
for my children's lifetime

435
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,160
and my grandchildren's lifetime,
is absolutely fantastic.

436
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:06,240
But with the trial results
only available next year,

437
00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:10,880
Dean needs to see if there are
more immediate ways of helping
his precariously damaged heart.

438
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:19,400
What makes stem cells so special is
not just their
potential to cure us from disease.

439
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:24,000
Scientists also
think they could give us

440
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:29,160
the ability
to regrow whole body parts.

441
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:43,040
In America, research is already
underway attempting to help people
like Anthony grow back a limb.

442
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,160
Anthony is about to meet a scientist
who claims to have

443
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:58,680
evidence that amputations
could one day be reversible.

444
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,800
Welcome, nice to meet you finally.

445
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,800
It is indeed, Anthony.

446
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,240
Biologist David Gardiner at
the University of California

447
00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:16,120
has dedicated his career
to an intriguing little creature

448
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:20,240
with a very unusual ability,
one that suggests we may

449
00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:23,960
all have the potential to heal
ourselves when seriously injured.

450
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:28,760
If it weren't for these animals,
and you said, "I think we can regrow
an arm or a leg,"

451
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,040
people would say you
are crazy, right?

452
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,680
Because, because then you'd
have to have just made it up.

453
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,680
I have this idea
that maybe this is possible to do,

454
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,240
but we don't have to do that
because we have these.

455
00:37:40,240 --> 00:37:44,520
These are axolotls, they're
salamanders and, and they can do it.

456
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,960
Salamanders have regenerating
abilities that far exceed those

457
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:57,440
of other vertebrates, but this
particular breed of salamander,

458
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:03,600
called an axolotl and found in
only certain lakes in Mexico,
trumps them all.

459
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:11,080
So this is you. I mean basically I
mean it has its arms amputated, but
you can do the same thing on the leg.

460
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:17,200
And... I'll show it to you if I can
get this guy without...

461
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:23,600
Slippery. Yeah they are. Ah! I can
do this.

462
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:28,200
This is an animal that you know was
amputated yesterday.

463
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,840
Oh, right. Does that look familiar?
That does look familiar.

464
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,400
You wake up every
morning and you see that. Yeah.

465
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:39,200
Already in twenty-four hours, those
cells are beginning to go down
this regeneration pathway and...

466
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,680
But what
you see there is just a stump.

467
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,360
And this is, this is only about
ten days later. Right.

468
00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,440
It's a lot of difference isn't it?

469
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:52,760
This is, you know, starting to grow
out and it's actually starting to
flatten a little bit

470
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,880
because it's going to make the hand
and our hands are flat and thin.

471
00:38:56,880 --> 00:39:00,120
And they always grow back
exactly what you cut off.

472
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:04,920
And they don't grow back more,
and they don't grow back less.

473
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,160
Just how the salamander

474
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:13,400
is able to regrow amputated limbs is
something that has huge implications
for people like Anthony.

475
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:18,440
The answer seems to lie in
what happens just after injury.

476
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:23,240
So say for a salamander,
does any sort of protective covering
form over a stump whatsoever?

477
00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:26,280
Are they
prone to infection or complications?

478
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,120
Yeah well...they don't make scars.

479
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:32,600
When your leg's amputated, it closes
over, makes a scar and that's it.

480
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,960
And this animal closes it
over and the same cells,

481
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:41,560
they're not magic cells, those same
cells that made the scar here like,
here they form the blastema.

482
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:46,000
These are the cells that they migrate
and they begin to proliferate and
they become like stem cells.

483
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:47,920
It's very, very much like stem cells.

484
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,880
They have the ability to remake
the basic pattern of the limb.

485
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:59,280
All the evidence is that that's the
same as what happened when
you were an embryo.

486
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:07,160
This bump here and the limb bud
in an embryo are the same structures
and that's really important.

487
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,600
Remarkably
salamanders have somehow retained

488
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:17,720
their embryonic ability to marshal
the body's stem cells and regenerate
even when seriously injured,

489
00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:23,920
an ability we have in the womb for
the first few months of life
but then lose.

490
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,440
Scientists believe that if
we could retain that ability,

491
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:31,680
we too could have limitless
capacity for regeneration.

492
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:38,800
Can you picture a time when
humans would be able to you know
grow back a whole, a whole limb?

493
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,120
In that little bump,
everything you need to know

494
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,960
to regenerate your leg
is in that bump you know?

495
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:49,960
I promise you that, I know that.

496
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:56,840
Amazing thinking that
here we've got our model
for regrowing a limb

497
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:02,320
and it's in this six inch long sort
of pink amphibian that can just do
it at will.

498
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:12,920
Scientists
are already attempting to replicate
how salamanders regrow limbs.

499
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:20,400
Anthony is on his way to the
American army's medical research
facility in Fort Sam, Texas.

500
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:26,960
This is where soldiers end up after
losing limbs on the battlefield.

501
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:38,440
Anthony has special access to
the radical research which is

502
00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,320
attempting to unlock our
dormant ability to regenerate.

503
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,840
It's just mind-blowing when you
think of what a leg is made of.

504
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,320
I really just can't begin to get
my head around where they start.

505
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:52,960
Where do you begin with all of this?

506
00:41:55,400 --> 00:42:03,080
Anthony is meeting the surgeon
that the US military's research
arm is putting their money behind.

507
00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:07,360
Dr Steve Wolf is putting his faith
in a special substance they've named

508
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:12,840
pixie dust which doesn't contain
any actual stem cells.

509
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:17,480
Right, so this is the stuff.

510
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:20,160
So what we do is we
take an open wound, so we cut open

511
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:25,680
something and so you've got a wound
surface like this and you take this
powder and just pack it on there.

512
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:31,320
Then what happens we think is that
it gets populated by stem cells.

513
00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:35,960
The pixie dust is derived from
high protein pigs' bladders.

514
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,000
When it's placed in a wound,
the pixie dust releases chemical

515
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:45,280
signals that act as a homing signal
for all the stem cells in the body

516
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:48,320
to regenerate rather than scar.

517
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,840
The stem cells are circulating around
in all of us all the time,

518
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:58,040
and the cells come in and they say,
"I'm not in scar, I'm in something
else - I'm supposed to regenerate."

519
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:05,040
Right. But that's the general idea,
is that this provides an environment
that's not scarred to begin with.

520
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:12,080
The US military is so excited
with the promise the powder holds

521
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:17,160
that it's begun human trials,
starting with fingers.

522
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:22,400
If this works, it could be a step
towards Anthony regrowing his leg.

523
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:28,280
He's meeting Sergeant Shilo Harris,
the first man they started treating.

524
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,640
There he is, right there.

525
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:35,080
How you doing?
Hello, good morning to you.
Had to bring the whole crew today.

526
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:38,040
If it could have been just me,
we might have been here
sooner.

527
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:39,320
What's your name? Albert.

528
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,160
Albert, that's cool. And Nicholas.

529
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:42,840
And Nicolas. And what's your name?

530
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:44,680
Elizabeth.

531
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:48,400
Hello Elizabeth. I'm Anthony
by the way, nice to meet you.

532
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:50,280
Nice to meet you.

533
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:54,960
Do you mind telling me what happened
to sort of get injured?

534
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:57,760
I'll tell you loosely what
happened since my kids are here.

535
00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:01,240
It was kind of an ambush scenario.

536
00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:03,440
Two dismounts...

537
00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:06,480
and my driver and I were
the only two that survived

538
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:10,200
and anyway fortunately
both of us were sent here.

539
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,120
I'm not going to sugar-coat it.

540
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,520
There was days that I was
ready to give up,

541
00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:18,760
there was days that I didn't want to
get out of bed,

542
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,840
but these three children and my
wife,

543
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:28,160
they helped me push through and
here I am. And here I am a
guinea pig, I guess I'm...

544
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:32,560
So as you can see,
Shilo's missing things

545
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:40,400
and what we did was this was back
about right here before,

546
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:46,320
and that's, we think about a half
inch, give or take, longer
than it was before.

547
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:49,680
When we first started it
was pretty much flat across.

548
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:52,840
You couldn't see a hump.

549
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:58,560
Dr Wolf opened the wound
and applied doses of powder which he

550
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:03,080
hoped would attract Shilo's own stem
cells to start regrowing the finger.

551
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:06,640
We can see like a peak of tissue
just growing like a little...

552
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:08,920
I don't know, it was really weird.

553
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,400
And it wasn't granulation tissue,
it had a different appearance.

554
00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:17,200
It was a growth and you know it was
really awesome so that really got us
fired up about that.

555
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,040
You can feel it, it's kind of hard.

556
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:26,520
Oh, yeah. So you know I think it's
like the, the bone you know getting

557
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:28,600
solid in there. It's trying to form.

558
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:33,520
It's the first shot at
this and I think in the...

559
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:38,680
If this works 10, 20 years from
now it will be much easier to do.

560
00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:43,800
This small amount of growth
is just the result of Shilo's first

561
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:47,520
treatment with the powder,
but he'll be back for more.

562
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:51,240
It's left Anthony wondering
what it could mean for him.

563
00:45:51,240 --> 00:45:56,120
It was very nice to meet you.
Nice meeting you too.

564
00:45:56,120 --> 00:46:00,120
What they're doing with this dust
in terms of just, just the very

565
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:04,680
start of the research, growing back
bits of finger maybe a centimetre or
so of bone,

566
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:10,560
a little bit of muscle
going on in there as well - in its
infancy the research is incredible.

567
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:15,680
But in terms of growing legs back,
although it does seem like a
possibility, the real question is

568
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:21,360
the time line and it's going to be a
slow process but one that eventually
they seem confident it'll get to.

569
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:31,000
Dean's come to the University of
Minnesota in the States
to visit Dr Doris Taylor

570
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,400
whose team is working on something
from the realms of science fiction -

571
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:38,560
attempting
to grow new hearts in the lab.

572
00:46:41,240 --> 00:46:44,760
Are you Dean? Hi, I'm Dean.
I'm Doris. How you doing?

573
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,080
Come on in. Thank you.

574
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,160
This is my lab.

575
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:58,400
What we've tried to
do is realise that for people
with end stage heart failure,

576
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:01,520
really the only
true treatment is a transplant.

577
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:03,560
That's right yeah,
that's what I've been told.

578
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:07,120
So there are
not enough hearts to go round. No.

579
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:10,080
Our goal is to try to build a heart
in the lab. It's absolutely amazing.

580
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:16,360
What we believe is you need cells and
you need a scaffold on which you can

581
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:20,520
put those cells because cells in a
dish alone don't make a heart, right?

582
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,960
We said nature's already
built the perfect scaffold.

583
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:27,920
We don't know how to, we don't
have to learn how to do it. So...

584
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,600
But look at this.
This is a rat's heart

585
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:37,520
but, this is why, because literally
we're removing all the cells

586
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:41,520
and all that's left is what we call
the extra-cellular matrix,

587
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,440
the protein underneath that the cells
sit on.

588
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:49,400
Now we can take that scaffold
and transplant cells back on.
Excellent.

589
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:53,080
So that's the "before".
Let me show you the "after".

590
00:47:54,800 --> 00:48:01,120
Now this is only a few days
old so it's not perfect yet,

591
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:04,920
but you can see this heart and it's
not quite like the other one,

592
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:07,720
and you can
see it's actually moving. It's...

593
00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:10,120
is it actually beating? Yeah.

594
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:11,880
It's fantastic.

595
00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:16,640
Isn't that cool? That is cool.
That is absolutely amazing.

596
00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:21,440
I'm in awe, Doris, I am
because that is absolutely amazing.

597
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:29,320
The inert heart scaffold has been
brought back to life

598
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:33,520
with adult stem cells
harvested from another rat.

599
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:35,920
This is nature's tool

600
00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:42,080
and there seem to be cues in there
from nature that tell the cells
where to go and what to do.

601
00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:44,640
I don't know, have you
ever held a heart before?

602
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:48,120
The next step for Doris
towards making hearts for people

603
00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:52,280
is to scale the technique up
using a heart from a pig.

604
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:55,160
So you can put your hand under it

605
00:48:55,160 --> 00:48:56,840
and there you go.

606
00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:01,480
That's the scaffold
we would use to build you a heart.

607
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,680
So that's with all the
cells removed? Right.

608
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,080
And that's
ready to take the new cells?

609
00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:08,280
Right. The hope is that

610
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,640
someone comes to us, they need
a heart, we find a pig scaffold.

611
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:16,960
We remove all the cells,
we get stem cells from them.

612
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:24,600
We put the cells back in, we grow the
heart, we mature it, we clean it up
and it's ready for transplant.

613
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:28,760
That's the hope, and because it
matches their body as their cells,

614
00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:34,320
they don't need to take
harsh immuno or anti-rejection drugs.

615
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:35,960
Yeah. It's amazing.

616
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:40,520
I can't explain to you how
it feels to be standing here looking
at this, that this you know could

617
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:46,160
be the future, that it could cure me
and get me back to the life
that I had ten years ago.

618
00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:48,960
I mean it's, it's...

619
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,000
you're the reason we're
doing what we're doing.

620
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,440
It's pretty amazing
to get to talk with you and it's...

621
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:57,320
It's pretty amazing
to get to talk to you.

622
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,640
It's humbling for me to know that
you're, doing this for people
like me.

623
00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:04,080
And if anything you're
researching stem cells,

624
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:06,800
but what you're actually doing is
you're creating hope.

625
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:09,800
Oh, wow! You're creating hope
for hundreds of thousands of people.

626
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:14,480
Thank you. Do you do hugs?
Yeah I do hugs.

627
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:26,040
For Anthony and
Dean, the potential of stem cell
treatment is still some way off.

628
00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:30,760
However for Sophie,
there may be a more immediate hope,

629
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:35,160
but one that depends on more
than medical science alone.

630
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:39,200
Because embryonic stem cells
require scientists to source

631
00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:43,520
them from human embryos, they
have triggered huge controversy.

632
00:50:43,520 --> 00:50:48,000
Research in America was
severely restricted for years.

633
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:52,520
Embryonic stem cell research
requires the destruction of life.

634
00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:58,360
The ethical landscape around
embryonic stem cells in particular

635
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:01,120
has always been contentious.

636
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:04,160
It's been at times a very hard
battle to convince people that

637
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:06,760
this is appropriate
research that should be done.

638
00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:11,280
You really have to work hard to
sell the benefits, potential
benefits of this research.

639
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:17,680
The controversy held back research,

640
00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:21,240
but now the whole field
could be about to change.

641
00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:24,880
I am a strong supporter
of stem cell research.

642
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:31,720
With attitudes changing,
a Californian biotech company
called Geron is on the brink of

643
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:36,200
being given the green light by the
US authorities to begin the world's

644
00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:40,160
first human trial using embryonic
stem cells,

645
00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:46,160
and it's for people with
spinal cord injury, like Sophie.

646
00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:52,680
It's taken Geron a very, very
large amount of money,
a huge amount of animal data,

647
00:51:52,680 --> 00:51:58,280
something like 22,000 pages of
documentation
to convince the FDA that this trial

648
00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:04,280
should go ahead and I think this
really represents kind of a watershed
moment in stem cell biology.

649
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:10,920
Geron's pioneering trial
could make or break the whole field
of embryonic stem cell treatment.

650
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:18,120
If successful, it could lead to a
flood of cures for other diseases,
from blindness to diabetes.

651
00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:21,800
For me it means that there could be
treatment.

652
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,320
I'm not expecting to come
away and sort of think,

653
00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:28,720
"Oh, that's the man that's going to
cure me,"

654
00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:34,560
but it's at the same time
very exciting. You can't get help
but get your hopes up.

655
00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:37,280
Sophie is meeting Professor
Hans Keirstead from the

656
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:41,600
University of California,
the scientist behind it all.

657
00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:43,400
Hi, hi how you doing?

658
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:47,560
Good to meet you. Welcome to the
centre. Thank you very much.
It's really smart. Yeah.

659
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:50,400
Yeah it's not bad.
Exciting stuff going on?

660
00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:53,240
Lots of stuff going on.
I've been hearing about it.

661
00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:57,440
This is the Reeve Irvine Research
Center. I didn't realise it was
to do with Christopher Reeve.

662
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:01,160
Yeah. there's a picture of him
here. Do you want to see the
laboratories?

663
00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:03,680
Yeah definitely. Let's do it.

664
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:10,920
This is the first lab in the world
to announce they've found a way

665
00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:14,200
to safely treat
humans with embryonic stem cells.

666
00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:20,360
They claim to have mastered a
technique to turn them permanently

667
00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:25,160
into spinal cord cells before
transplanting them into the body.

668
00:53:25,160 --> 00:53:27,840
So what have you got
to show me on the computer?

669
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:34,160
This is a summary of the work that
we did that led to this clinical
trial,

670
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:36,480
so what you see here is a rat

671
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:39,080
that has an impaired ability
to walk,

672
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:42,120
so its belly is down,
its tail's down and it's...

673
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:45,720
Dragging itself almost. Yeah, it's
dragging itself.

674
00:53:45,720 --> 00:53:50,520
If you imagine that these
are your brain signals
moving down your spinal cord

675
00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:56,520
conducting electricity, they do
so because they're insulated,
like a wire in a wall is insulated.

676
00:53:56,520 --> 00:53:59,440
I discovered, with a number of
other researchers around the world,

677
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:02,120
that that insulation
is lost after injury.

678
00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:06,520
That's a therapeutic target,
so that's why we took
stem cells, made them into

679
00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:09,600
the cell type that makes the
insulation.

680
00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:15,760
When we put them in, they restored
the electrical conductivity
after wrapping the wires or axons

681
00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:19,360
of the central nervous system and
the effects on the animal
was awesome.

682
00:54:19,360 --> 00:54:24,840
I still remember the,
the first days when my animal team

683
00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:27,880
would come upstairs and say we
broke the code. That was amazing.

684
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:30,800
That must have been amazing. Yeah
it was amazing. It really worked.

685
00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:35,360
God, so now what the
human trial is doing is taking...

686
00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:36,920
Explain to me what's going on.

687
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:39,760
Well, there are several centres
in the United States that are

688
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:42,600
preparing to recruit patients,
and the first patients are going

689
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:47,600
to get transplanted with these cells
within months, so it's imminent,
just happening now.

690
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,320
And you have high hopes obviously?
I've got very high hopes.

691
00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:54,080
I realistically think that we're
going to get an incremental advance.

692
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:58,400
It's not going to take people
out of chairs playing soccer
overnight. It's not.

693
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:04,520
There's no way it can do that,
but I think what it will do is
restore some sensory... Some motor.

694
00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:08,920
I mean could you imagine me
being able to walk again? I mean is
that something that you could..?

695
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:12,840
I wouldn't be here if I didn't.

696
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:16,000
It's such a big thing
for you to say.

697
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,080
Yeah, it is a big thing to say.

698
00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:25,280
I have every bit of confidence that
spinal cord injury will be treatable
at any stage of its course.

699
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,720
A year, a decade, two decades after.

700
00:55:27,720 --> 00:55:31,600
The face of spinal cord
injury is now for ever changed.

701
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:33,200
That's amazing. Yeah.

702
00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:36,360
There's more people. It's going to
be different.

703
00:55:42,240 --> 00:55:48,920
It's only twelve years since human
embryonic stem cells were first
successfully grown in the lab

704
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,840
and now it seems that medical
science

705
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:56,680
could finally be on the brink
of a complete transformation.

706
00:55:56,680 --> 00:56:01,040
So I mean we're talking about a
fundamental revolution in medicine.

707
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:07,240
In the next 10 to 20 years
this field will just be massive.

708
00:56:07,240 --> 00:56:10,600
It's just going to
fundamentally change the way

709
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:16,280
we treat patients, the way we look at
disease, the way we age and will
have major implications for society.

710
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:25,520
Seeing the beating heart in Doris's
lab has given Dean confidence that
one day his own heart will be fixed.

711
00:56:25,520 --> 00:56:28,080
It's breath-taking, inspirational.
There's so many words

712
00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:33,480
that you could pick out
of the English dictionary
to describe the lady and her team.

713
00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:38,760
I'm really quite lost for many of
them which is much of a first
for me, but absolutely fantastic.

714
00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:41,200
What a trip, what a journey.
She's brilliant.

715
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:46,160
For Anthony, the whole journey has
given him an insight into the size

716
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:52,160
of the task that scientists face
in attempting to regenerate limbs.

717
00:56:52,160 --> 00:56:58,280
What they have found is that there's
going to be a long research journey.

718
00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:04,280
You know, another sort of 10,
20 years down the line, this science
fiction does become science fact.

719
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:08,800
But confronted by the
prospect of regaining his leg,

720
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:12,760
he's been thinking more deeply about
what it means to be an amputee.

721
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:19,480
I don't feel there are many
difficult situations that can be
thrown my way now

722
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:22,520
that I don't think I could overcome,
and maybe if I had a leg back,

723
00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:26,680
my concern is that I might
lose something that's
integral to me as a person.

724
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:35,440
So right now, I think it's...
I'm happy as I am. I'm happy with my
wooden leg.

725
00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:39,440
But for Sophie, what she has
discovered about stem cell research

726
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:44,320
has made her change
the way she thinks about her future.

727
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:50,720
At the beginning I think I was
looking more for an immediate change
and a cure,

728
00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:56,120
and I think now I know that that's a
very, very dangerous thing to do.

729
00:57:56,120 --> 00:58:01,440
So I think I'm a lot happier,
a lot more settled.

730
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:06,160
I've made my decision and just sit
back and wait till the time is right

731
00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:09,200
which I kind of have this feeling
is not going to be too long.

732
00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:16,880
It will be something that's
going to happen for me in my
lifetime, I think. I hope anyway.

733
00:58:33,840 --> 00:58:36,360
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

734
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:38,800
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk