Mike Trujillo believed he had finally found a cure for his terminal illness.
The father of five was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2017 – a one-in-50,000 incurable nerve disease that gradually robs sufferers of the ability to move, speak and eventually breathe.
He took his medications as doctors prescribed, but after being told he likely would not live longer than five years, Mike was desperate for some shred of hope.
That’s when, in 2019, he came across YouTube videos from a stem cell clinic in Washington state that seemed to offer exactly that.
The clinic was promoting what it called a ‘revolutionary’ treatment, reportedly part of a clinical trial, that claimed it could cure ALS, according to a lawsuit later filed by his family.
‘The videos were very encouraging,’ his wife, Carmen Trujillo, told Daily Mail. ‘It was like, wow, this is awesome – it’s supposed to cure ALS.’
After a free remote consultation, the couple paid $15,500 for two procedures.
But weeks after traveling to Seattle for treatment, Mike was dead.
Mike Trujillo, 62, died after receiving a stem cell treatment at a clinic in Washington state. His family was awarded $24 million after a court case. He is shown above with his wife Carmen
A jury has now ruled that the doctors who carried out the procedure were negligent and awarded his family $24 million in damages.
‘I flew over there with so much hope for our family and for Mike,’ Carmen said. ‘I thought that he was going to get well from ALS. I went over with hope, and I flew back without Mike.’
Mike and Carmen, from Westminster, Colorado, first realized something was wrong when he began struggling with his balance.
A master electrician, he initially tried to carry on as normal after his diagnosis. But within months his symptoms had progressed, leaving him struggling with dexterity and even cutting his own food.
ALS – also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease – progressively destroys the nerve cells that control muscles. Eventually the disease damages the nerves that control breathing, causing patients to suffocate.
There is currently no cure and treatments can only slow its progression or ease symptoms. Just 20 percent of patients survive longer than five years after diagnosis.
In the clinic’s videos, according to the lawsuit, its head doctor Dr Tami Meraglia was also pictured.
Mike had been searching for treatments after he was diagnosed with a nerve condition in his late 50s that gradually robs sufferers of the ability to move (Mike and his wife in Venice)
There are currently no FDA-approved stem cell treatments for the condition, according to the ALS Association, although clinical trials investigating the approach are ongoing.
The treatment offered by the clinic involved removing stem cells from the patient and then injecting them back into the spinal cord, according to the lawsuit.
Mike traveled to Seattle for the first stage of treatment in February 2019, where stem cells were extracted from his flank.
‘The first visit went pretty well,’ Carmen said. ‘We stayed maybe a couple of days afterward, it was just a really good experience for my husband.’
The lawsuit claims everything changed when they returned in April for the second procedure, when the stem cells were to be injected into his spinal cord.
When they arrived, they were told Meraglia would not be performing the procedure and had been replaced by another doctor, Andrea Friesen, according to the lawsuit. The family said they were surprised but agreed to go ahead. It was not clear why the first doctor was replaced.
According to the lawsuit, no imaging scans were carried out before the procedure. Mike had also informed the doctors that he was on coumadin, also known as warfarin, a blood thinner that can increase the risk of severe bleeding, the document also says.
Patients are typically advised to stop taking warfarin around five days before elective procedures to minimize the risk of dangerous internal bleeding.
The Trujillo family say Mike was never told to stop the medication.
The injection appeared to go smoothly, but the lawsuit states that shortly after leaving the clinic Mike became unwell.
‘He mentioned he had a headache and I just didn’t think anything of it,’ Carmen told Daily Mail in an interview. ‘He got some Tylenol and the headache just went on.
‘He was taking Tylenol every four hours and I said, “you need to call the doctor”, and he said, “No, the doctor said I was going to have an epidural headache”.’
An epidural or spinal headache can occur after spinal procedures and usually resolves within hours or days, although doctors recommend seeking medical help if symptoms last longer than 24 hours.
By the next day Mike was still in severe pain.
‘That evening my son made some dinner, and Mike was laying down a lot in our room,’ Carmen said. ‘I said, “Come and eat with us.”
‘He got up and started eating, but then he just got up and ran to the bathroom. ‘I followed him and he said, “I can’t see”.’
Mike received his treatment at the Seattle Stem Cell Center in Washington state. The outside of the clinic is pictured above
Mike, a father-of-five, had hoped the clinic offered the treatment he had been waiting for. They came for the treatment with a lot of hope, his now widow said
Mike suffered an intense headache after the treatment, but initially put off attending the hospital, his widow said. They are pictured above together
Moments later he agreed to go to hospital.
‘I went with him. I rode in the front of the ambulance. That was really the last time that I was able to talk to my husband,’ Carmen said.
At the hospital Mike was unresponsive and unable to move his arms or legs, the lawsuit states.
Doctors carried out emergency brain scans which revealed a massive bleed in his brain, according to the lawsuit.
‘I thought they were going to say he needed an MRI,’ Carmen said. ‘But they said there was nothing they could do.’
‘I was there encouraging him and saying how much I loved him. We had a family conference call so the kids could say goodbye to their daddy, to their grandpa and their father-in-law, and they were screaming.’
Shown above is Dr Tami Meraglia, who ran the clinic before it shuttered in 2021
Mike died on April 6, 2019.
A medical review, detailed in the lawsuit, later concluded he had suffered a fatal brain bleed caused by the spinal injection.
The family filed a civil lawsuit against the Seattle Stem Cell Center, Meraglia and Friesen in 2022.
Last month a jury unanimously ruled that the doctors had been negligent and awarded the family $24 million in damages – including $4 million to Mike’s estate, $5 million to his wife and $3 million to each of their five children, who range in age from 32 to 46.
Meraglia, who closed the Seattle Stem Cell Center in 2021, told Daily Mail: ‘My prayers are with the family for their loss.
‘I was not the physician that treated Mike in April when he died. I am the owner of the clinic.
‘Another physician, who was part of the lawsuit, was his doctor and who performed the procedure. An appeal has been started.’
Friesen did not respond to Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Carmen said that after the trial, every juror came to hug her.
‘We went to that clinic with hope,’ she said. ‘We went there with hope – not for me to fly back alone home without Michael.’
