HEAL THYSELF

HOW NEW BREAKTHROUGHS IN REGENERATIVE MEDICINE—USING YOUR OWN STEM CELLS—CAN TREAT ALMOST ANYTHING

- Patricia Pearson

Dr. Riam Shammaa used Annissa Jobb’s stem cells to alleviate her back pain.

ANNISSA JOBB HAD been working as a personal support worker in Toronto for a couple years when her back pain first appeared. The cause: an undiagnosed herniated disc, which had pinched the nerve. As the pain worsened, she gritted her teeth and tried to keep going.

“It was my calling in life, taking care of people,” explains Jobb, now 54. But working with frail seniors involves a lot of lifting, bending and pulling. “I had a drawer full of pain medication. None of it was working. I'd snap. My husband and I came close to getting divorced.

By November 2016, about a decade after she first noticed the pain, Jobb could scarcely walk 200 metres. “My family doctor finally said, 'You will end up in a wheelchair if you don't stop working there.

Jobb's GP referred her to Dr. Riam Shammaa, a sports medicine and pain specialist in Toronto. Every few weeks, Shammaa administered nerve-block needles, similar to an epidural. They held Jobb's pain at bay for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but then it always returned.