NEW DELHI (CNN) Cash Burnaman, a 6-year-old South Carolina boy, has traveled with his parents to India seeking treatment for a rare genetic condition that has left him developmentally disabled. You might think this was a hopeful mission until you learn that an overwhelming number of medical experts insist the treatment will have zero effect.

Cash is mute. He walks with the aid of braces. To battle his incurable condition, which is so rare it doesnt have a name, Cash has had to take an artificial growth hormone for most of his life.

His divorced parents, Josh Burnaman and Stephanie Krolick, are so driven by their hope and desperation to help Cash theyve journeyed to the other side of the globe and paid tens of thousands of dollars to have Cash undergo experimental injections of human embryonic stem cells.

The family is among a growing number of Americans seeking the treatment in India some at a clinic in the heart of New Delhi called NuTech Mediworld run by Dr. Geeta Shroff, a retired obstetrician and self-taught embryonic stem cell practitioner.

Shroff first treated Cash who presents symptoms similar to Down Syndrome in 2010. I am helping improve their quality of life, Shroff told CNN.

After five weeks of treatment, Cash and his parents returned home to the U.S.

Thats when Cash began walking with the aid of braces for the first time.

His parents were thrilled. Before the treatments, Cash could only get around by hopping, his mother said. The results were enough to persuade Cashs mother to go back to Shroff for more help.

We saw evidence the first time that its worth trying again, Krolick said. In this particular case, with Cashs other conditions, we dont have many other options.

For four or five weeks of treatment, Shroff says she has charged her 87 American patients an average of $25,000. Its a big financial hit for Burnaman, a volunteer firefighter and property manager, and Krolick, who attends technical college in Greenville, South Carolina.

More here:
Parents Cross Globe to Try Unproven Treatment on Son

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