Ty Haywood embarked on a physical and emotional journey after he was diagnosed with an incurable degenerative disease three years ago.

Haywood, who grew up in Napa, said he went through six American doctors before being diagnosed in 2004 with Multiple System Atrophy, a Parkinsonian Syndrome that attacks the nervous system. The experts didn’t offer much in the way of hope.

“The doctors pretty much told him to just go home and die,” said Renee Diekroetger, Haywood’s sister, who said her brother was given six or seven years to live.

So Haywood left the United States for another country — China — where he could receive treatment not available in U.S. hospitals — stem cell injections.

Two months in Beijing

After his diagnosis, but before setting his sights across the seas, Haywood underwent a regimen of at least five different drug treatments. None were successful.

He turned to the Internet and did his own research, estimating he spent 800 to 1,000 hours looking up the disease and possible remedies before deciding to travel to China for stem cell injections and other treatments.

Diekroetger said before her brother arrived at Tiantan Puhua Hospital in Beijing, he couldn’t get out of a chair or bed without help.

Haywood added that before receiving $39,500 worth of treatments there, his speech was heavily slurred, he often choked or coughed uncontrollably while eating and he was barely able to walk.

Haywood, 54, now sits and stands on his own, he speaks more clearly and even his “shuffling gait” has disappeared, Diekroetger said.

Before the stem cell treatments began, Chinese doctors offered Haywood regularly doses of three intravenous medications. Four days into these preliminary treatments, he said, he noticed marked improvement in his condition.

“I woke up at 3 a.m. and I went to the bathroom. ... I got out of bed really easily and I couldn’t believe it,” he said, adding that before the treatments, just turning his body in bed was difficult.

Then, doctors gave him four stem cell injections in his lower lumbar. The approximately 140 million cells contained in each dose were derived from umbilical cord tissue, he said. Stem cells have the capacity to renew themselves and ultimately mature into a variety of human cells. Injected into a person, they may replace or reinforce cells in a weakened body and restore it to greater health.

In addition to the intravenous medications and stem cell treatments, Haywood received acupuncture treatments, massage therapy and was taught meditation techniques at the Beijing hospital.

Haywood returned from China on Dec. 3, after he and Diekroetger spent about two months there.

In a letter he sent to one of his U.S. doctors, Haywood cited many improvements as a result of his treatments in Beijing, including improved reflexes, balance, mobility, muscle tone, flexibility and more.

Urging a change

While heartened by his improvements, Haywood and his family are discouraged by the state of stem cell research law in the U.S.

President George W. Bush has repeatedly vetoed bills that would free federal funds for stem cell research, including two versions of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which passed in the Senate and the House in 2005 and 2007.

“All of us caregivers got together and said, ‘Isn’t it sad that the world’s greatest superpower cannot do the things to save people’s lives?’” said Diekroetger.

In hopes of increasing the availability of stem cell treatment in the U.S., Haywood recently wrote letters chronicling his improvements to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. Haywood said he encourages others who support stem cell research to write letters to state and federal government officials.

Diekroetger said stem cell treatments have the potential to alleviate the suffering of countless Americans who face a range of common and rare health disorders. Some health professionals believe the treatments could eventually help those afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injuries, strokes and more.

Proposition 71, passed by California voters in 2004, allotted approximately $3 billion for stem cell research. Due to lawsuits that stalled the distribution of state monies, funds for stem-cell studies have only recently become available.

In the meantime, Haywood is working his way back to health at his home in Fernandina Beach, Fla. In conjunction with four oral medications and two vitamin supplements he acquired in China, he incorporates physical therapy, acupuncture, massage and meditation into his treatment regimen. Haywood said the doctors who treated him in China told him that he will feel the full results from his treatments within approximately six months.

Diekroetger said although there is no cure for MSA, the stem cell treatments and other medications her brother received abroad will buy him time.

If his condition grows worse and there is still no cure for MSA in five or six years, she said, he will return to China.

“I’m really determined to beat this, and I will. I’m trying to buy enough time to get a cure,” said Haywood.