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Reported by:   http://fox17online.com

CHICAGO, Ill.– A doctor who performs stem cell transplants for people with debilitating diseases calls the procedure a “win-win” for both the patient and their insurance provider.

For the past 30 years, Dr. Richard Burt with Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, has been researching stem cell transplants.

Cory Smallegan, from Grand Rapids, said he was one of Dr. Burt’s patients.  He says that he’s been given a second chance at life due to the transplant.

Smallegan was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in 2011.  It’s a rare neurological disorder that causes progressive weakness in the arms and legs. Prior to the transplant, he said he was making arrangement to live his life from a wheelchair.

“My legs just couldn’t lift up. Normal people can stand on their toes, I couldn’t do that,” Smallegan said. “I would fall…I would run into things.”

Lori Mills was also diagnosed with CIDP. She’s in the process of seeing Dr. Burt for treatment.

“I got to the point where I was paralyzed–couldn’t move at all,” she said.

In order to get the transplant, a patient first needs to have their diagnoses confirmed by Dr. Burt. He then gives them a one-time treatment that nearly wipes out their immune system. They’re then infused with their own stem cells, which rapidly regenerates a new immune system that functions how it’s suppose to.

“We’re able to reverse disability,” Dr. Burt said.

The only problem is, health insurance providers don’t always cover the procedure. While Blue Cross Blue Shield has agreed to cover Mills’ transplant, Smallegan is now more than $125,000 in debt because BCBS denied him coverage, stating the transplant was a “clinical trial.”