We've set up a petition to let the medical establishment know about the reality of living without a thyroid and the urgent need for investment in thyroid transplant research.

You can find it here.

We've found this great blog which keeps track of developments in stem cells and discusses them in a really clear way.

We really like this article which explains the recent work about thyroid cells being developed from stem cells.

News about Kidneys from Stem Cells

We found this and thought you might be interested. It gives some idea of the challenges that scientists face when trying to make stem cells grow into organs, rather than just a bunch of cells, and how they are progressing with that. News of this kind of progress gives us even more hope.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8443740/Scientists-create-human-kidneys-from-stem-cells.html

We've been really busy working behind the scenes, writing constitution, arranging insurance and trying to recruit volunteers. Once we're on top of all this boring stuff we're planning on writing letters to some of the scientist and surgeons working in this field and trying to attract the attention of the media

Watch this space....

Great News about Thyroid Stem Cell Transplant Research

We've had some great news from Thyroid Uk. They've sent us a link to an article about the development of stem cell thyroid transplants. (If you've a problem with animal experiments you might not want to look.) Basically they've managed to make thyroid glands in a petri dish. That's really exciting because it's not just the cells they've made grow, but they've managed to shape them together in the right way.

We think this is a great step forward not just because it's a way forward to transplants but because it's an acknowledgement that taking thyroxine is not like having a working thyroid gland. Using stem cells for transplants means that there's less need for immuno-suppressant drugs.

The primary concern is for babies born without a thyroid, because that can affect their development in so many ways, so we agree that's the most urgent application, but we hope that if it's successful the treatment would become more widely available.

It might be a long journey but there's lots of reason to be very happy about this news.


http://www.nature.com/news/thyroid-is-latest-success-in-regenerative-medicine-1.11574

Volunteers

If you, like us, believe in the importance of thyroid transplants and have some time to spare we’d love to hear from you.

We need people who can:

Help promote the site

Help organise meetings.

Help with correspondence

Help us bid for funding

Help with dealing with the press

Please drop us a line on livingwithoutathyroid@gmail.com

Living without a Thyroid survey

We're trying to collect information about people who have had their thyroid removed, or were born without a thyroid and what impact it has had on their lives.

If you'd like to help us please respond to this survey.

Thank you.