Cerebral palsy
Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (10:24): In another first, I joined the Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas at the Monash Children’s Hospital to announce an Australian-first medical treatment using autologous umbilical cord blood stem cells for the treatment of cerebral palsy in a paediatric patient. Zara is six years old and has cerebral palsy. Her mother Michelle, a constituent, purely by chance saved her cord blood. This cord blood was treated and then was given to Zara in an infusion to treat her cerebral palsy. I am happy to say that there were strong early signs of significant improvement in Zara’s physical capabilities. Zara is the first child to have this treatment and I hope the first of many.