Ema Knapp brimmed with questions when she heard about stem cells being used to "cure" autism.

A father of a 6-year-old autistic boy had just returned from Panama and was talking about it to a friend who owns a liquor store near Knapp's Natomas nail salon. Knowing that Knapp and her husband, Tu Le, have a 9-year-old son with autism, the liquor store owner urged the man to talk with them.

The father had shelled out $15,000 for stem cell-based treatments – and told Knapp and Le that he'd noticed dramatic improvement within two weeks.

"This was kind of interesting to me, but why isn't it being done in the United States?" Knapp said, just one of dozens of her questions.

She turned to the Internet in an attempt to find more answers about the treatments. She watched countless YouTube videos on treatments in Panama and Costa Rica and read dozens of websites.

Knapp and Le are avidly seeking a way to help their son Dylan Le. The youngest of four boys, Dylan was diagnosed with mild to severe autism when he was 2 1/2.

At one time, their toddler was happy and babbling. He would run and throw his arms around Knapp as soon as she'd come through the door.

But around 2 years old, Dylan changed. His focus remained on the book he'd be looking at when Knapp would come home from work. He'd push his mom away if she'd try to hug him. He stopped babbling.

Now, Dylan likes being by himself. He zooms around their new home, reveling in the increased space. The repetitive movement of ceiling fans help to calm him. He has yet to speak.

For Knapp, the thought of her son telling her what he wants, instead of typing it out in notes on a phone or iPad, is a dream she hopes will someday be reality. Even if that reality would mean investing thousands of hard-earned dollars in treatments.

"I can accept Dylan for the way he is," she said. "My only concern is for his future. Could he hold a job? Could he have a family?"

Knapp emailed a center in Panama requesting more information on treatments for Dylan and 12-year-old Devon, who has epilepsy, but she remains skeptical. Her questions have not yet been answered. She plans on speaking with her children's doctor about the treatments.

At one such facility, the Stem Cell Institute in Panama, stem cells from human umbilical cords collected from donors are used to treat autism.

The website promises: Stem cells are capable of regeneration and differentiation, once injected, they can "follow inflammatory signals from damaged tissues and have multiple ways of repairing those damaged areas."

My calls and emails to the institute went unanswered.

There are many unknowns when it comes to stem cell-based therapy and its potential to treat autism, said Dr. Michael Chez, director of Pediatric Neurology at the Sutter Neuroscience Institute in Sacramento.

Stem cell-based therapy is steeped in mystery for the average person, and they tend to think of it as a cure-all, said Chez, who also is Dylan and Devon Le's physician.

"Everybody has stem cells in their body, and as we age, they may be more and more difficult to access," he said.

Stem cells can't just be inserted into the body and magically evolve into a spare part or the thing you need it to become, he said.

"Many things have to happen first before they become able to change," he said.

Stem cell research remains in the infancy stage, he said, and the extreme science has yet to involve controlled trials. Scientists have yet to uncover how stem cells work. Can they differentiate to nerve cells? Could they stimulate existing cells to change?

Doctors and scientists such as Chez are yearning to learn more.

"We're very curious as to whether the stem cells in cord blood can help neurological diseases like autism and cerebral palsy," he said.

Patience is needed, however, especially among parents desperately seeking answers – and help – for children with autism spectrum disorders.

"A lot of people who are desperate might seek this out in other countries because they're not as regulated as this country is," Chez said.

He anticipates leading a controlled study involving cord blood and autism by the end of the year.

"A controlled study needs to be done looking at patients given essentially a placebo vs. the cord blood, and we are designing such a study," he said. "If anybody were to have done this anywhere, it would add validity to this type of treatment."

In the meantime, parents should be very cautious of offers of autism "cures" that proliferate on the Internet.

"There have always been people trying to offer false hope to people with autism," Chez said. "Unless it's being done in the U.S. or in a medical center in a controlled study or in some type of valid research study, be careful. Going anywhere outside of those environments probably means you're giving your money away without any kind of guaranteed success. …

"I understand the desperation, but the Internet is not policed with scientific information."

While it will take science time to unravel the mysteries of stem cells and their uses, one thing can and should be done now: increased support for families with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

Parents are stressed out, disappointed or simply exhausted.

"We don't offer the support services to families to keep them from seeking out the desperate measures," Chez said. "Those are some of the things that we can do a better job on in the future."

Since autism affects one in every 110 children in this country, isn't it time we started?

Autism Speaks offers several resources for families, from a free, 100-day action kit – available for download on its website, www.autismspeaks.org, or by phone at (888) 288-4762 – to a monthly newsletter offering tips on dealing with everyday situations and links to local resources.

Support can also be as easy as an offer of help. Could you baby-sit for a few hours or include the child in your kids' activities for an afternoon? Do you have time to listen to a friend or relative talk about what they're expriencing?

A small gesture can sometimes make the biggest impact.

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