How a Remarkable New Medical Treatment Is Transforming the Lives of our Combat Veterans

Silver Star Recipient & Veteran Advocate Profiled in New Documentary Wise Endurance from Working Pictures, Inc.

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Jul 02, 2018, 15:13 ET

NEW YORK, July 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 3.8 million wounded veterans living in America today. That's as many wounded veterans as there are people living in the states of New Hampshire, Hawaii, and Maine combined.

What's even more heartbreaking, though, is that many of these veterans feel ignored and misunderstood by the country they gave their blood and bodies to serve.

Working Pictures, an independent film company dedicated to producing content with purpose, wants to help change that. Today, Working Pictures announced the release of Wise Endurance, a documentary profiling two brave veterans -- and a collective of stem cell physicians providing them with cutting-edge treatment for their combat injuries.

One of these veterans is Roger Sparks, a former Pararescueman and Silver Star Recipient who served during the bloody Bulldog Bite battle in Afghanistan. Sparks is a veteran advocate who is seeking stem cell treatments for his and his fellow combat veterans' traumatic brain and blast-induced injuries.

This specific treatment is called autologous stem cell therapy, which is where stem cells are harvested directly from the patient's own fat tissue. Then, these stem cells are separated from the fat and reintroduced intravenously to boost healing.

During the film both Sparks and his 14-year-old son, Oz (who has Cerebral Palsy and type 1 diabetes), had noticeable results from their stem cell treatments. Oz's results are witnessed by the audience, which follows Oz moving from previously non-verbal to speaking. The results captured on film lead the collective to encourage other doctors to offer the same service to veterans, with a plan that the findings will be part of a national study and database of how adipose derived stem cells can help with other concussive injuries.

Sparks introduces Pararescueman team member Jimmy Settle, who was shot in the head during BullDog Bite. (Settle's memoir, Never Quit, is a national best-seller.) The treatment was so effective for Settle that he began to heal his inability to freely touch his face. The former track champion also was able to resume running again, which he had previously been unable to do.

These successes in autologous stem cell therapy have inspired Sparks to become an advocate for his fellow combat servicemen. As a result, Sparks, Cell Surgical Network’s doctors including Dr. Kyle Bergquist, Dr. Mark Berman, Dr. Elliot Lander and Dr. Larry Miggins and the filmmakers, have established Healing Our Heroes Foundation -- a non-profit organization whose goals are to treat combat veterans with adipose-derived stem cells and study the initial promising results.

Because there are no medical treatments for TBI, Stem Cells could be a real game changer in the health of our wounded warriors.

A national network of providers have already committed to treating a significant portion of the population of former combat veterans through the efforts of the Wise Endurance team, and further fundraising is being planned through the sale of the documentary and donations.

The film is available online for purchase at www.wiseendurance.com. Proceeds will go to fund the Healing Our Heroes Foundation, which will provide treatment, travel and accommodation for the veterans, as well as cover the costs of the study of the outcomes.

SOURCE Working Pictures, Inc.