Mike Swendseid, 70, mows his yard at his Riverside Park Home in Grand Forks on Thursday. For the first time in five years Swendseid can mow his yard again. Swenseid is a recipient of an experimental stem cell treatment program through the Minneapolis Heart Institute.

The Grand Forks man had angioplasty. He underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery. Inside him were four wires, two stents, a pacemaker and a defibrillator.

The treatment uses Swendseid’s own stem cells, so it’s different from the controversial embryonic stem cell research. Earlier this month, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, saying the use of the embryos amounts to murder.

Swendseid said his experience has strengthened his support of all stem cell research.
“Based on what has happened to me and based on what all the medical people have told us, this will be the real answer,” he said. “Just think of the possibilities Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, spinal injuries. He also says, “It’s not to make us live forever. It’s so we can feel better when we are living.”

The procedure had bone marrow cells drawn, treated and then injected into 15 ailing portions of the heart. The theory, according to lead researcher Dr. Tim Henry, is that bone marrow cells stimulate the growth of blood vessels. In a similar study, the researchers also use stem cells to grow new muscle in the heart.