JOHNSTOWN, Colo. -- Pastor Dave Castner inspires through family and his own, personal story.

"Good morning," Castner said to a small, but attentive group at the Loveland Good Samaritan Center, where Castner is chaplain.

Castner conducts his Sunday service from a wheel-chair. The 37-year-old is unable to walk

following a terrible car crash in Eastern Washington over a year ago.

"It's like I've been given a second chance at life, you know?" Castner said.

Castner’s wife, Timorie, who was driving, and their little boy, Liam, escaped serious injury.

"There's just no way any of us should have come out of that," said Timorie from the family’s Johnstown home.

While clearly mentally strong, physically Pastor Dave, as he’s known, has begun his own journey of hope.

"My whole thing was, if we don't try this, we'll always wonder, what if?" said Timory.

Together, Dave and Timorie would travel halfway around the world to a clinic in Germany for a spinal cord repair treatment not available in the United States.

Dave made a video diary of the treatment, which takes stem cells from bone marrow in his own pelvis, then injects them into his spinal cord in hopes of repairing damage.

As a pastor, Castner said he had many discussions about this type of stem cell therapy he calls promising.

"There’s no moral implications because it’s my own tissue,” Castner said.

Castner’s surgery and travel in early October more than $11,000.

While considered successful, Castner said it could be one to three months before he may seen any positive results, such as regaining some movement and strength.

While it meant going 5,000 miles away for Castner, right here in Colorado researchers have made a major breakthrough that is capturing the attention of scientists around the world.

"It's a quantum leap in terms of repair of the nervous system," said Dr. Stephen Davies, who is leading the research at The University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.

He's developed a way to essentially "program" stem cells to promote nerve regeneration.

By making these beneficial astrocytes, or “star cells,” Davies said they're also able to prevent astrocytes from forming that end up causing pain.

“We're seeing almost 40 percent of nerve fibers regenerating in just eight days," Davis said.

The discovery means amazing promise for people with spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinsons, and ALS, Davies said.

The research at UC Denver is still in the pre-clinical stages and could go to human trials in the next three to five years.

Davies said experiments currently with different stem cell sources; both adult and embryonic cell lines approved by President George W. Bush.

In the online Journal of Biology, Dr. Davies eported his research team has produced two types of spinal cord support cells called astrocytes (“star” cells) from the same embryo-derived stem cell-like cells called Glial Restricted Precursor cells (GRPs) that have remarkable effects on the injured spinal cord.

Astrocytes carry out many important functions within the brain and spinal cord and account for roughly 70 percent of the total cells in the central nervous system.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time that two distinct sub-types of astrocyte support cells generated from a common stem cell-like precursor cell have been shown to have robustly different effects when transplanted into the injured adult nervous system,” Davies said in a news release distributed by UC Denver.

When nerve fibers are injured in the adult spinal cord, their severed ends fail to regenerate and re-connect with nervous system circuits beyond the injury site. Inflammation at sites of injury not only promotes the formation of scar tissue that inhibits the re-growth of nerve fibers but is also thought to play a major role in the onset of neuropathic pain syndromes that are a common side effect of severe and even relatively mild spinal cord injuries. These pain syndromes can be so severe that the touch of a finger feels like the stab of a knife.

Just back from Germany, Pastor Dave said he knows the procedure he had, which is different from the scientific method being researched here, although still involving adult stem cells, carries a risk for side effects including headaches and pain.

"You have to trust, you have to have faith," he said.

Even with new technology around the corner, Dave said it's worth any risks knowing the pay off could mean doing more with his son sooner -- maybe, even walking again.

"If it doesn't happen, so be it," Pastor Dave said. "Anything I get back helps, it's about quality of life."