Words of scripture, prayers and well wishes lined freshman Allyson Sass’s Facebook wall on May 5.

Sass and her mother, Anita, traveled to Texas and Mexico so Sass could undergo placenta stem cell treatment to slow down her Neurofibromatosis Type II, or NF2.

“It was really great,” Sass said. “The doctor was really sweet and gentle.”

Sass was diagnosed with NF2 in March 2007. This genetic disease causes tumors to grow on the cranial and spinal nerves.

When she was nine years old, her dad, Chris, died from NF2 at the age of 38. Her grandfather died from NF2 in 1966 at the age of 33.

During the operation, Sass had four incisions made behind her ears, which could potentially help with her hearing, her balance and a tumor that is on her brain stem.

“It was really professional,” she said. “You couldn’t even tell that you were in Mexico … It’s been kind of sore just because of the placement of the incisions.”

As she lay on the operating table before the 45-minute operation, Sass felt a little anxious and excited to see what would happen. But her nerves subsided as the doctor turned on piano music before the operation began.

“(The doctor) had some piano music playing and I recognized most of the songs,” Sass said. “So it was calming.”

Sass, her friends and family are all hopeful that the treatment will reduce, or get rid of, the tumors that Sass has on her brain stem and spine. She also suffered a mild stroke in March that affected the left side of her body. However, since the treatment, Sass has already seen the side effects from the stroke lessen.

“My left hand types faster and my smile is straighter, which was all from the stroke,” she said.

Sass used to wear an ankle brace because of the stroke, but since the treatment, she hasn’t had to wear it.

“It is cool,” she said. “It’s instant gratification, which, you know, as a teenager, I like. It’s already worked, I can already tell difference.”

Anita was excited about the outcome of the treatment.

“She was very excited,” Sass said. “We’re both really excited.”

Sass’s doctor, Omar Gonzalez, did a lot of research about placenta stem cell treatment before the treatment was scheduled to take place.

“He did a lot of research about NF2, and he knows a lot about stem cells,” she said. “He’s been doing it for 18 years.”

Gonzalez said with NF2, Sass is missing a protein and the new stem cells have that protein.

Gonzalez would like for Sass to have an MRI in three months to see if the tumors have reduced in size or are gone. If they have, then she will travel to Mexico in six months to have another round of stem cell treatment.

"It may have to be a regular thing, but it depends on the results, which we are expecting to be wonderful," Sass said. "Everything else has been wonderful, praise God."<br/>