Stem-cell patient improving

Willie Terpstra's 50-minute operation in Beijing has given husband Rein and family and friends cause for hope. Picture / Alan Gibson

Motor neurone sufferer Willie Terpstra was showing signs of improvement within hours of her controversial stem-cell transplant in China, her family said last night.

The 64-year-old drank a glass of fruit juice in one go - something she has not been able to do for six months.

Husband Rein told TVOne's Close Up the family were delighted by the small signs of improvement.

"It's early days now but we hope every day will be a little better. The drinking was amazing," he said.

The Rotorua woman flew to China two weeks ago for the surgery she hopes will enable her to speak again.

The 50-minute operation, under local anaesthetic, involved transplanting millions of stem cells from aborted fetuses directly into Mrs Terpstra's brain.

An update on the family's website said she had had the front of her head shaved in a Beijing hospital on Sunday night and walked herself into the operating theatre yesterday.

"She was in there for less than an hour and then she came out in a wheelchair, still with that old twinkle in her eyes, and even managed to smile."

Mrs Terpstra was taken back to her hospital room to sleep for three hours, before being allowed to sit up and have something to eat and drink.

The surgery is banned in most parts of the world. It takes cells from the nasal passages of aborted fetuses, aged between four and six months.

Many of the fetuses are the result of China's enforced abortion policy.

Mrs Terpstra, a mother-of-three, was diagnosed a year ago with motor neurone disease, a terminal condition in which nerves supplying the muscles degenerate.

In six months she lost her ability to talk and the disease progressed to the stage where swallowing and eating became difficult.

Mrs Terpstra flew to Beijing on March 5 and is expected to be there for another fortnight.

The family spoke of their nervousness while Mrs Terpstra was in the operating theatre.

The website, set up to keep people informed of Mrs Terpstra's progress, has been inundated with messages from well-wishers.