We’ve written about the Newborn Possibilities Fund (NPF) in the blog before.  Today we are proud to announce that the first award grant has been made to support Dr. James Carroll’s groundbreaking research at Georgia Health Sciences University.  The grant is intended to provide financial support to help with travel related expenses for families with a child participating in Dr. Carroll’s clinical trial evaluating the use of cord blood stem cells as a medical intervention for cerebral palsy.

“The hope for stem cells, really from the beginning, is that they might serve as some type of replacement for cells in the nervous system that have been destroyed or never developed properly,” said Dr. James Carroll, professor and chief of pediatric neurology at Georgia Health Sciences University and principal investigator on the study. “The main goal of our research is to try to help improve the lives of children with cerebral palsy and find out if the method we’re using is going to help these children in the future.”

Some of our blog readers have been generous donors to the fund.  Thank you for your support.  The NPF was created to help advance clinical research investigating the use of a child’s own cord blood stem cells as a treatment for conditions like cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury.  The NPF directs financial grants to non-profit organizations to help cover the cost of travel for families who have the chance to participate in cord blood stem cell FDA-regulated trials.  The Fund is administered by Tides, a public charity, on behalf of CBR.  Please visit the NPF web site for more information or to make a donation.