No Stem Cell Treatment

Wednesday, 19 July 2006

Today was a disappointing day as President George W. Bush vetoed the bill to expand funding for human embryonic-stem-cell research, even though most of the American public was for it. I recently wrote a letter to the White House on my dad's behalf. Some ALS patients have raised money to go to other countries like China and Thailand to get stem cell treatments, as it is the only hope for patients to gain some sort of muscle strength when struggling with a disease that has no cause and no cure. One man actually could smile (after not being able to before) after his treatment, which can make a world of difference for someone who is slowly watching his every limb and muscle degenerate right before his eyes. As I watch and listen and read the coverage on the news, it's so sad to think that Bush would be vetoing something like this. As stated in my TIME magazine, Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, who directs the UCSF's Institute for Regeneration Medicine, says that "Brain stem-cells can make almost all cell types in the brain, and that may be all we need if we want to treat Parkinson's disease or ALS." My grandmother has Parkinson's disease, and of course my dad has ALS. Very frustrating. Especially knowing that even if we had all the money in the world, my dad does not even have the respiratory strength now to fly to another country for stem-cell treatment even if he wanted to.

So, it was timely that when I went to get a check in my dad's file box this afternoon, I found a small plastic bag of, well.... "Hey, what's this? Look what I found!" I said to my dad, not knowing if perhaps it was inadvertantly dumped in there by one of my teenage stepsisters. My dad just had this big grin on his face and replied,"Hey it's medicinal. I asked the doctor if anyone has used it medicinally. He said yes, that some people have refused everything else and have chosen to go that route." Then, he finished with, "Put it back. I haven't smoked in over a year, but one day, I'm going to make some brownies and eat it."

With all the disappointments in the world, might as well live life to its fullest and be happy.