News 12 at six o'clock -- May 2, 2010

GROVETOWN, Ga. --- For years, stem cell research has been a controversial issue here in the United States, with many people fighting to get a federal ban lifted.

And recently, more and more people have started looking outside the country, including a local family who's hoping the treatment will help their son.

For the past eight months, Jackie Johnson has spent almost every moment at her son Brody's bedside.

Brody is in a comatose state after nearly drowning last year. The two-year-old crawled through a doggie door at a sitter's house and fell into the pool.

He spent weeks in the hospital, and now back at home, Brody still doesn't have use of much of his body and breathes through a tube.

"I started researching then, what can I do and where can I go," says his mother Jackie.

The answer became stem cell research. The family decided to look outside the country to China.

"It's a 23 hour trip," Jackie says. "It's a little scary. You've got a child on a vent and on all this equipment."

But recently, more parents are making the trek for their children. Already researchers say at least 600 patients from around the world have flocked to China for stem cell treatment, a process that can cost around $20,000.

"He'll get four different treatments, stem cells into his lumbar, into his spine. It's kind of like a spinal tap," Jackie describes.

"I have researched this day and night until I'm blue in the face. I feel very good about it."

But many still question whether or not it actually works. And with recent reports of scams by stem cell doctors, Jackie says people have expressed their doubts to her. But she is confident in the care Brody will be getting.

"He's young and he has a lot of good things on his side," she says. "There is controversy with everything. Every brain is different, every injury is different."

"If it works, it will be wonderful. If it doesn't, we'll keep trying with something else."

She says even the smallest improvement will be worth it. And in the end, her goal is clear:

"To get a little piece of Brody back," she says. "To give him a quality of life."

Jackie and Brody will be in China for five weeks, and she's expecting it to be at least six months before they start to see any changes.

The trip will be an expensive one, and the family is looking for help in getting there. Friends have set up a way people can donate their Delta Sky Miles online. For more information about Brody or to help out, you can click on the link below.