Stem-cell patient walking after controversial surgery

Rotorua stem-cell recipient Willie Terpstra is up and walking after her revolutionary surgery in China.

Mrs Terpstra, 64, had her operation on Monday afternoon in a Beijing hospital, and says she is doing well.

"Today my bandage came off and I am walking around with two little holes with just a sticky plaster," she wrote on a website updated by her family.

"So far I have no side-effects, no headache or anything else."

Mrs Terpstra, diagnosed with motor neurone disease about a year ago, had the surgery in a bid to stop the disease which had been gradually reducing her ability to eat and talk, among other things.

Stem cells from aborted foetuses were inserted into her brain through holes drilled in her skull.

The surgery is banned in New Zealand.

On the website yesterday, Mrs Terpstra joked that her golf would be in good shape after the operation.

Her daughter, Ren, has previously said both she and Mrs Terpstra's husband, Rein, had noticed an improvement after the operation, including being able to drink freely, which she hadn't been able to do for six months or so.

Mrs Terpstra is to spend another two weeks in hospital undergoing therapy, including acupuncture, before being allowed to return to New Zealand.

- NZPA