mschindler.com

Stem Cell, Superman, and Hope

In the wake of Christopher Reeve’s untimely death, Ronald Reagan’s daughter has found some agonizing things to say about the Bush Administration’s politically deplorable lock on life-saving stem cell research.

Laura Bush went on national television during the week of my father’s funeral and spoke out against embryonic stem cell research, pointing out that where Alzheimer’s is concerned, we don’t have proof that stem-cell treatment would be effective. It wasn’t too long after that interview that she gave a speech in which she chided people for offering “false hope’ to the families of Alzheimer’s patients. In a sweetly patronizing tone, she said it’s terribly unfair to all of those who are vulnerable and in pain to suggest that a cure is just around the corner.

Memo to Mrs. Bush: I am one of those poor, vulnerable souls who you think has been misled. I speak for many others when I say that none of us believe a cure is just around the corner. We believe it’s around a very wide bend, which we can’t get around because your husband has put up a barrier to further research. And as far as false hope, there is no such thing. There is only hope or the absence of hope—nothing else.

I’ve noticed that things like this really get noticed when it happens to politicians or famous people. And it makes me sad/angry because there are a lot of people in this country who go untreated for illnesses every day. And many of them die for a number of reasons. The fact is, without research there will be no cure. Cures don’t grow on trees. And lets think for a minute that a cure for Alzheimers is found… with millions of Americans without health benefits it won’t matter because they won’t be able to get treated. But the wealthy and famous people will be able to be cured. Ok, I’m done ranting now. Sorry about that.

That’s a really good point, Jonathan. No need at all to apologize.