Inevitably, illnesses happen without warrant. One might live an active life and eat all the right things, yet still fall prey, whether it be to the common cold, or something much more life-threatening, such as cancer. In any case, just as bad things can inexplicably happen, so can good—and often, they come complementary to one another, such as in the case of thirty year-old Claudia Castillo.

The mother of two risked losing a lung after a battle with tuberculosis left her windpipe withered and damaged beyond modern repair. Miraculously, doctors have been able to “regrow” her trachea-a first in medical history. Using a donor trachea as a frame, Castillo’s own stem cells (taken from her bone marrow) to reform the organ.

Five months later, Ms. Castillo is doing better than ever. Because the cells were taken from her own body, she has not had to worry about taking drugs to reduce the risk of organ rejection.
The larger picture is not only a bright future for Claudia and her family, but for medical science as well.

The procedure used to regrow Claudia’s trachea did not require stem cells from embryos.  This new form of organ cloning will someday be capable of saving thousands of lives in the, and eliminating the concept of the organ donor waiting list as we know it.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/transplant-using-trachea-grown-from-patients-own-stem-cells-a-world-first-20081119-6bli.html?page=1