Nicole Dalton has dedicated her life to telling nourishing stories that uplift others and inspire her community. As an actress, acting teacher, and as a spokesperson for Systemic Onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA), she has worked tirelessly to express and celebrate her own uniqueness while encouraging others to do the same, no matter the obstacles one might face. Nicole is no stranger to obstacles, for she has lived with SJIA most of her life (after being first diagnosed at thirteen.)

SJIA causes the immune system to attack ones own healthy cells which results in inflammation of the joints and other major organ systems, high fevers (up to 105 degrees), and daily flu like symptoms. 

“She is my MOST complicated case," says her rheumatologist. Indeed, Nicole's adult life has been filled with countless tests, medications, ER visits and hospitalizations. Physical pain is a constant companion, often leaving her bedridden for long periods of time. Yet through it all, Nicole works as an actress and as an acting teacher, she maintains a sense of humor that made her a fixture on Funny or Die, dances at her beloved Sweat Spot and she only has to complete her thesis to gain her Masters Degree in Counseling Psychotherapy from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Nicole had to take a leave of absence from graduate school due to the severe compications from her SJIA. 

One serious, and rare, complication from Nicole's SJIA and the treatments she received, was the development of her large intestine no longer being able to function, at all. Crippling pain, weight loss and malnutrition was the result.  A major digestive surgery in 2015 was believed to mark a turning point in Nicole's journey. For a while she did, indeed, experience relief sufficient enough to allow her to pursue her various endeavors. She entertained audiences, she inspired students, she became a prominent advocate on behalf of the numerous people who share her illness and similar afflictions. In short, she went right on telling nourishing stories.

Unfortunately, that surgery did not solve the underlying problem and her symptoms returned. Another, even more drastic surgery is now recommended, one that involves the total removal of the large intestine. This dramatically invasive procedure poses obvious health risk and would automatically result in permanent lifestyle complications. Moreover, it is yet another method of treating the chronic symptoms plaguing Nicole while doing nothing to address the underlying systemic cause.

What would potentially offer Nicole an opportunity to heal the underlying cause of her ongoing disease would be a therapy that treated her on a cellular level. It is precisely this kind of therapy that has been developed by The Stem Cell Institute of Panama. The doctors there have approved Nicole to receive a 4 day treatment in which 120 million expanded allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells will be intravenously administered.

Nicole's Rheumatologist and Gastroenterologist fully support Nicole receiving this treatment. She has also done her own massive research into this process which includes outreach to many who have undergone the procedure and swear to its efficacy and reading any and all medical literature available. She has come to believe that this procedure offers her the best chance not only for survival, but for healing. Unfortunately, because this process is not available in the USA (where the slow research into stem cell therapies continues at a glacial pace), the $26,000 it will cost Nicole for the treatments, lab work, travel, accomodations, etc, will not be covered by health insurance

It is up to us to ensure that Nicole's story can become a nourishing one, that will enable her to write many more chapters into the hearts of all those she encounters.

*These Stem Cells are donated from the umbilical cords of healthy c-section births. Only cells from the umbilical cords are used and transferred to patients.