Julie Ingleston is a 70 year old patient at CELLAXYS who, until a few years ago, had been a very active individual. Ingleston played highly competitive sports and enjoyed other physically intense hobbies for the better part of 50 years. After beginning to experience severe joint and limb pain to the point that even sitting or standing became difficult, Ingleston came to the CELLAXYS team to see if they could offer a solution.
As an avid traveler, Ingleston values mobility and the physical exertion of a nice vacation, though this was not the case on her recent voyage to Machu Pichu. Between standing in line for airport security, sitting in the terminal waiting, and getting on and off buses she experienced a lot of pain on her trip.
“I wasn’t about to get to Machu Pichu without at least attempting a portion of the Inca trail,” Ingleston said. Unfortunately, the pain had gotten so severe by this point in her trip that she had to abandon her plan. It was only then that she began to grasp the impact her pain was having on the quality of her life. After returning from her trip, the pain only escalated. Before coming to CELLAXYS, she was delegated to laying down in bed for the majority of her day and taking an abundance of pain medication.
“Julie is a wonderful patient of mine,” said Dr. Matthew Otten, the Director of Orthopedics & Orthobiologics at CELLAXYS. “She is a retired nurse who wanted to enjoy the outdoor life after moving to Colorado. She wasn’t able to because she had so much pain.”
Ingleston wanted relief, but wanted to avoid surgery at all costs. She had seen firsthand as a former nurse all of the post-operative changes and pains that patients had gone through even after surgery.
“One of Julie’s major goals in life was to go back to Colorado to hike and climb the trails which she couldn’t do because of her pain. When I initially saw her she couldn’t do this because of multiple locations of arthritic pain,” Dr. Otten said. “Julie was looking for one procedure of a few hours to work on multiple joints. I offered her adipose-derived stem cells. With adipose tissue you oftentimes can get more than one joint in a single procedure. Stem cells can also be applied during a surgery or delivered through injections directly into the arthritic joint.”
Dr. Otten explained how adipose-derived stem cells have been shown to halt arthritic conditions and, in many cases, reverse and regenerate joint tissue. He also recommended stem cell treatments as they have been shown to cut the destruction of cartilage and reduce ligament damage and inflammation, a perfect combination for Ingleston’s conditions.
In Decemeber of 2017, Ingleston decided to go along with the procedure. She got it done to both her knees, her right hip and the pelvic joints on her right side. “The procedure was relatively painless,” Ingleston said.
6 to 8 weeks later, Ingleston began to feel better. Her rehabilitation was going so well that she flew to the CELLAXYS offices to personally thank Dr. Otten for the procedure and for returning her mobility.
“I was pain free. I could resume activities that I hadn’t been able to do for a while and be active all day long. I was able to play sports again at a high level for long durations,” Ingleston said. “I never ever dreamed I would be able to get back to that level again.”
After a year post-procedure, Ingleston is still pain free and is as active as ever. She has been able to continually gain strength in the areas that used to debilitate her. Ingleston couldn’t be happier about the second chance she has been given. About our team, she has this to say, “Thank you Cellaxys and thank you Dr. Otten, you have given me my life back.”
