A young boy from Glenburn recently returned from Costa Rica where he underwent a procedure that is not available in the United States.

Meghan Hayward tells what he had done and how he's coping.

Eight-Year-old Kenneth Kelley was diagnosed with autism at the age of two.

When we last talked with him and his family, they were preparing for a trip to Costa Rica where he would undergo adult stem cell therapy.

"Kenneth had stems cells from umbilical chord blood and he got about 24 million stem cells while we were there in Costa Rica. He had injections every day over a period of four days."

Marty Kelley is Kenneth's mother. She was told by the doctors in Costa Rica to not expect to see results for 8 weeks to 6 months.

It's only been 6 weeks since the procedure and she and her husband say they're already seeing changes.

"Immediately when we were in Costa Rica, he just started talking a lot more. His vocabulary is probably 20 percent more conversation. He started going up to strangers and talking to them."

Kenneth had no problem telling us what he did in Costa Rica.

"We went to the beach and rain forest."

The Kelley family had to go to Costa Rica for the procedure because it's not done in the United States.

Marty is happy they made the trip.

"We know this is going to work for him. And we are 100 percent confident we'll be going back to Costa Rica in January. This is what he needs and because done so well in hyperbaric oxygen chamber, we know this is going to be good for us."

The hyperbaric oxygen therapy puts oxygen into the areas of the brain that have never received it, and creates stem cells in the brain.

"We hope to have him fully recover from this."

Right now, they're just happy to see Kenneth make the small changes and enjoy being a kid.

If you have questions about the procedure or want to follow Kenneth's journey, you can go to Marty's blog.

www.kennsjourneytorecovery.blogspot.com.

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