We’ve been fighting for stem cells for a long long time here.
Today, President Obama will rid us one more dark cloud hanging over American science by lifting the ban on federal funding and approval of embryonic stem cell research.
Having spent the past 8 years in a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury and a “fundamentalist” in the White House, I don’t feel anything yet, so accustomed have I become to deaf ears in Washington.
When Bush announced his Solomonic decision about stem cell research in 2001, (in this case, he actually DID cut the baby in half), I felt compelled to take action. I gathered a group of 5 fellow paraplegics and we “hung” ourselves in Washington. I started a stem cell advocacy group within Empax, the 9th Floor Project. I tried to reach out to my representatives to no avail. Christopher Reeve, American hero, died in the middle of his campaign to lift the research ban. What a frustrating time it had been to be a disabled American.
I don’t think my own efforts accomplished anything. On second thought, that’s not quite true. I did vote for Barack Obama. And that, above all, did the trick.
As one of the many millions of Americans who will be helped by this now-freed research, President Obama’s message of hope has never been more concrete.
Mr. Obama, the disabled, the chronically ill, the angels who tend to us day after day salute you.
