In December 2005, Sabrina got the transplant at a small clinic in Progreso, Mexico. Donated cells from umbilical cord blood were injected into Sabrina with the hope that these healthy cells would multiply, then repair and regenerate damaged or diseased tissue.

"We don't want to regret it later and say we should have done that back then," Joe Flores said. "There's nothing harmful about it. It's worth a try."

Dr. Frank Morales runs a preventive health care clinic just two blocks inside of the International Bridge at Progreso. The clinic is one of only three KENS 5 found in Mexico, and Morales owns two of them.

Morales sees patients from all over the world for the very simple procedure. At least 10 to 15 patients travel to his Progreso clinic every month to undergo stem cell transplants.

"It's about the only thing I had left to try," he said. "My option back in the U.S. ... there weren't any. That's why I'm down here in Mexico."

People come for treatment for a variety of illnesses, from diabetes and cancer, to neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis, to spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Brian Herman, head of research at the University of Texas Health Science Center, says overall, stem cell research is still in the very early stages in the United States and all over the world.

"I think it's inappropriate to send someone off to get this treatment based on not having information that it will benefit," Herman said. "I think it's going to take 10 to 20 years of serious, intense research before we're in a position to know whether these stem cells hold the potential we think they do, and how we can use them reproducibly in a human."

Herman said that the current political climate is not favorable to funding this type of research, mostly because of the moral and ethical debate over the use of embryonic stem cells, not necessarily umbilical cells, and that more public education over the difference is needed.

That is one point on which he and Morales may agree, but for Randy or Sabrina's parents, time is not a luxury they have. So far, they say, the treatments are working.

"She's more alert, her sense of humor is increased, her actions are more deliberate," Stephanie Flores said of Sabrina. "A lot of this could be purely coincidental or not, but we don't know," Joe Flores said. "We did it, and we hope that our investment brought back some type of return."

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