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JOURNEY OUT OF HOPELESSNESS GREENFIELD WOMAN THANKS READERS WHOSE DONATIONS RESTORED HER HUMANITY THE MAGIC of a certain smile is a common theme of song and poetry. But I don't think I've ever seen a more meaningful or beautiful smile than those being summoned by Connie Sainz. Entombed in a body as rigid as wood for a dozen years, her limbs gnarled and useless, Connie, 37, received a highly experimental brain cell transplant a year ago. On a day last week, on a routine visit by her physical therapist at her parents' home in the little agricultural town of Greenfield, in south Monterey County, she was doing exercises. She smiled. She brushed her hair. She stood and walked by herself. I honestly felt as if I were witnessing a miracle. And, oh yes, Connie had some words for you, the Mercury News readers who donated most of the $50,000 to pay for the trip to the University of Lund, Sweden, where her operation took place. ''Thank you,'' she said, in halting but clear enough words. I asked her how she had felt about that amazing journey, after so many years of hopelessness. ''Very scary,'' she said, with another wonderful smile. DR. BILL Langston, Connie's advocate and physician, watched with delighted eyes as Connie went through her physical therapy. ''This is inspiring,'' he said. ''It is much more than I had hoped for.'' Langston, the renowned Parkinson's disease scientist, described the essence of Connie's improvement this way: ''What makes you human is the ability to interact with other humans. If you lose that, and Connie had, you lose the essence of life. It takes away what makes you a person. Connie is still very disabled, but she has regained her humanity. She is no longer a statue in the corner.'' He cautioned against predictions for Connie's future, saying that her parkinsonism had advanced well beyond the point at which many people die of the disease. But a recent PET scan, in which a radioactive substance is injected into the brain and then photographed, demonstrated that the neural cells that were transplanted are thriving. Her improvement is real. ''I feel hope -- 100 percent hope,'' said Connie's mother, Nellie. ''It has all been worth it. Now, when she can walk outdoors by herself and talk clearly, that's what I want.'' AS THOSE of you familiar with this story may recall, Connie was 25 years old in the summer of 1982, when a decision to join her boyfriend in injecting street drugs proved disastrous. Of the 500 or so people believed to have taken what was purported to be synthetic heroin and sold on the streets of San Jose, a half-dozen, including Connie, were extremely damaged. They began being delivered to Bay Area and central coast emergency rooms. They were unable to communicate what had happened to them. Their bodies were frozen. Through amazing medical detective work, Langston and his team determined that the garage chemist had not made synthetic heroin at all, but rather a chemical known as MPTP, which, in the human body, metabolizes into a substance almost identical to a toxic pesticide. MPTP destroys the part of the brain that produces dopamine, and as a result mirrors the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease, one of the most prevalent of the degenerative brain disorders. Langston's MPTP discoveries led to an explosion of Parkinson's research worldwide, including the multifaceted assault against the disease taking place at the institute he leads in Sunnyvale. Doctors in Sweden gave the neural cell transplant operation to two of the San Jose street drug users. In the procedure, fetal brain cells are grafted into the damaged portion of the brain. The cells mature and fulfill their normal function, the production of dopamine. The Swedish team promised Langston that they would take Connie, whose condition was much more severe, if the operation proved successful with the first two patients. It did. And last spring, it was Connie's turn. ALL OF this is now depicted in a new book by Langston and public television producer Jon Palfreman titled, ''The Case of the Frozen Addicts.'' The book is a fascinating combination of medical mystery, cutting-edge science, and a tragedy among heroin users that stretched from Salinas to San Jose. It also tells how this saga offers hope to millions who suffer from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other degenerative diseases. As ironic as it seems all this time later, Connie and others are benefiting from the science that originated in their own personal disasters. Two years ago, when I drove down with Langston from the Parkinson's Institute to visit Connie in Greenfield, the scene was far different. Sophisticated computer testing indicated that she was still cognitive, that her brain comprehended, beyond the frozen mask. But even with the aid of elaborate computer switches, she couldn't communicate. Now she is a smiling human being who can walk a bit and respond to questions. Surgery to reattach her ankle ligaments will greatly enhance her mobility. But Langston said overcoming language ''ignition failure'' -- the inability to talk spontaneously in expressing one's thoughts -- will take more time. ''But when that happens, she will really be back,'' he said. I could not resist sitting down next to Connie and telling her how much I admired her courage. She turned her eyes and said, ''Thank you.'' Don't give up, I said. Painstakingly, but clearly, she responded. ''I won't.'' Write Jim Trotter at the Mercury News, 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95190; phone (408) 920-5024; or fax (408) 288-8060. Send Mercury Center e-mail to TrotterJim. MERCURY CENTER ID: me57349t Transmitted: 95-05-28 05:54:54 EDT Note: Dr. J. William Langston will be on ABC Prime Time Live, Wednesday May 31st to talk about Parkinson's and the book he just wrote. He is also said to be scheduled for ABC Good Morning America. I would guess this could be May 30, 31 or June1. Regards, Alan Bonander ([log in to unmask])