"Mr. Bush, take down that wall!"
To paraphrase President Reagan: "Mr. Bush, take down that wall!"
Nancy Reagan has made her stand clearly known. We need stem cell research to try to find cures for many horrible diseases, including the Alzheimers which slowly killed her husband.
I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS). More than likely, it won't kill me, or shorten my life. It will just make daily living an ever-changing, major challenge.
Please visit this site for more information: http://www.stempac.com/.
I have worked since I was sixteen, paying into the system. My career included responsible positions in business, government and the non-profit sector. I put in long hours, many times reaching 65 to 70 per week. I was relatively asymptomatic for years. I could walk, drive, hike, camp and do all sorts of other "normal" activities with my wife, family and friends.
My MS attacked me badly in 2000. The attack was due in part to those long hours, but also due in large part to the stress of my job. I can no longer hold any kind of regular job. At 53, I am now 95% confined to an electric wheelchair.
My HMO, managing a fund for my employer, allowed me limited physical and occupational therapy following my 2000 attack. The retail price of my wheelchair was over $11,000, which would have paid for a LOT of physical and occupational therapy! Financially, a bad business decision for the HMO, but a worse decision for my wife and me. She has changed careers to allow her to spend more time at home, and getting me to appointments.
Due to my illness, I am extremely heat-sensitive, and prone to sudden bouts of fatigue. Due to my heightened immune system, I am more prone to allergies than before. I have not been able to work since the attack. Physical and occupational therapy, and exercise have helped.
Big business (my HMO and employer) is NOT taking very good care of me, but the current Washington administration has taken good care of my HMO, limiting litigation awards.
Currently, expensive medication (Copaxone) seems to hold off further MS progression. In April 2005, my now-former employer and the HMO decided they would no longer cover my wife and me. My wife and I can purchase the same coverage through COBRA for about $750/month --- for 18 months. After that, who knows.
The one injectable medication alone (Copaxone) would cost us about $800 monthly (Don't feel sorry for the HMO! Due to their purchasing power, they get everything cheaper).
We're not rich, and neither of us ever held elective office, so I will likely be forced into the Bush-administration-created Medicare boondoggle. At some point during EVERY year, I'll get to pay up to $2000 for my medications, plus the premiums for Medicare Parts A & B and the copays. If we can't afford the costs, I guess I won't be able to have my medication . . .
In addition, we may have to pay all of the cost of Copaxone, my primary MS medication, recommended by my neurologist, who is a specialist in treating MS.
Last I knew, it isn't on the Medicare approved list, made up by Washington bureaucrats. Copaxone is effective in treating MY symptoms; the 3 other MS injectables are not. There was much hope for a new medication, Tysabri, but it was pulled from the market after two months by the manufacturer.
We can barely afford the copays my prescription drug plan charges for the rest of my medication. All of them only treat symptoms. None will cure MS, my high blood pressure, or my allergies.
Life and politics are about priorities. Years ago, I worked in the World Trade Center. My wife and I were employed in and enjoyed lower Manhattan. On TV, I watched the 9/11 attacks in horror. Worse, I watched Mr. Bush's unbelievable non-response! I cannot forget.
Three years later, the Bush administration has NOT caught bin Laden. Using bad intelligence or now what looks like outright deception, instead they started an unprovoked war, making us all a bigger target for terrorists.
Worse, every day, this war is costing more lives. Americans and those from many countries are dying. No theological theory needs to be interpreted or applied here. These souls were unquestionably alive --- full-term children who grew up before they were killed, for no good reason.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, and their administration, and their ilk, in Congress and elsewhere, are either morally bankrupt or wearing blinders. Creating the Iraq war and forcing such an ongoing loss of life, while promising/threatening to veto stem cell research is the height of unconscionable, blatant, moral hypocrisy.
Dead servicemen and servicewomen or civilians, from any country, are just as dead as aborted fetuses.
Stem cell research offers the only current, viable hope to cure MS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, and a host of other maladies. There are never guarantees in life, but lack of stem cell research guarantees that we will not find such cures!
Splitting moral hairs, the Bush administration IS allowing limited stem cell research, but only on existing stem cell lines corrupted by animal DNA and God knows what else.
A very rational alternative proposal would use stem cells NOT from aborted fetuses, but from frozen "test-tube" embryos slated to be discarded anyway.
We need the research yesterday. Plain folks like myself, and role models like the late Christopher Reeve and Ronald Reagan deserve a fighting chance.
I do not want fetuses, babies, or anyone killed to help me. I just want my life back, so I can share it with my wife, kids and grandkids.
posted by applejack | 8:36 AM
|
0 comments
