A.J. Foyt planning to undergo stem cell therapy | USA TODAY Sports – USA TODAY

A.J. Foyt during practice for the 2016 Indianapolis 500. (The Indianapolis Star)

Auto racing legend A.J. Foyt is hoping to find thefountain of youth for a body that has taken quite a beating over the years. And like a handful of athletes before him, its a journey that will take him outside the United States.

Foyt, 82, told IndyCar.com Saturday during a Verizon IndyCar Series test at Phoenix International Raceway that he plans to undergo stem cell therapy, likely in Cancun, Mexico, with injections into both ankles and shoulders as well as his blood.

Foyt suffered a broken back during a NASCAR race in 1964 and broken feet and legs during a 1991 IndyCar crash. In 2005, hewas stung more than 200 times by bees while trapped under his bulldozer at his Texas ranch. Hes had knee and hip replacements, and in 2014 underwent triple-bypass heart surgery.

Hes hopeful that stem cell therapy will help heal the lingering effects of some of those ailments.

They have to cut away some of the tissue from my stomach and it takes 8-10 weeks for it to grow back to produce the stem cells, Foyt told IndyCar. Ill probably have it done soon so that we can begin the treatment within the next two to three months.

Adult stem cells are able to grow and become a cell for a specific tissue or organ, according to the National Institutes of Health. They are different from embryonic stem cells, which come from fertilized eggs or aborted fetuses. Embryonic stem cells can turn into cells for nearly any tissue in the body.

But the procedure Foyt seeks has not yet been approved by the FDA for use in the United States, so he will head south of the border where several former football players have received these treatments.

MORE:Companies offer athletes hope with questionable stem cell treatments

It used to be you would have to go to Germany to get this procedure, but now its available in Cancun and that is probably where Ill have it done, Foyt said. Dan Pastorini (the former NFL quarterback) did it and it helped him. Peyton Manning (the former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback) did it for his neck and it really helped him. Tony Dorsett (the former Dallas Cowboys running back) did it, so I think we should try it.

Dorsett underwent a procedure where stem cells were extracted from his own stomach fat then cultured and multiplied with the help of a serum derived from cattle. The cells were then purified and injected back into him, about 200 million at a time, in Cancun.

When I was taking the stem cells, I was able to figure things out a little better and not get as frustrated, Dorsett told USA TODAY Sports in November of 2015. But Dorsett also admitted the effects of the therapy faded over time.

Stem cell treatments are largely untested and unproven by U.S. standards. In general, the FDA has a critical threshold for adult stem cell therapies.

If the cells are more than minimally manipulated when extracted from a patients body, they are classified as biological drugs that must go through long and costly testing to make sure they are safe and effective for widespread use in the USA.

Contributing:Brent Schrotenboer and Jarrett Bell

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