“Several small holes are made into the bone to make it bleed intentionally,” Cole said. “In that blood is our own body’s stem cells that lay down fibrocartilage or scar cartilage.” Then stem cells from umbilical cord blood are mixed with hyaluronic acid, a building block of cartilage. “The hope is through acting as a regulator, in that area, they can actually improve the healing response,” Cole said. Now Hackett is back on his feet, and its helping him keep up with little Jimmy. “Knees are great,” Hackett said. “I’m able to kneel now and before, prior to surgery, I wasn’t able to do that” The therapy has been approved in South Korea and preliminary reports in the United States are promising. The best candidates are people under age 45 with some localized areas of cartilage damage. The treatment is not meant for older patients with arthritis or in place of a knee replacement.