By: Jerry Burke
When Christopher Reeve suffered a near-fatal spinal injury after falling from a horse in 1995, things looked bleak. He wasn't expected to live, and even if he did, doctors agreed that the life he would have would be taxing for him as well as the people who loved him.
The man whose vitality had brought one of America's endearing mythological figures to life for a new generation was paralyzed from the neck down, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. How -- heck, why? -- would anyone want to continue living like that?
It just goes to show how much I have left to learn. Reeve pressed on for another nine years. In that time, he became the model of the human spirit's determination. He became more of a hero than he ever could have been on screen.
He raised awareness of people with his condition among the public, prompting our leaders to do more to fund the science needed to improve the quality of life for him and so many others with similar disabilities.
Then, in 1998, his crusade began anew. That year, a research team at the University of Wisconsin became the first group to grow human embryonic stem cells, the building blocks of cell development, in a culture. The potential of this scientific breakthrough was astounding. Over the next two years, it became increasing evident that with intense research, these cells could be manipulated into just about any cell in the body. From spinal-cord injuries to Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to diabetes, the illnesses that had plagued mankind may have finally met their match.
But a funny thin happened on the way to the lab. President Bush came into office at a crucial point in the determination of the future of stem cells. He made a compromise: He would support (very) limited funding, but only the 78 stem cell lines in existence as of August 2001 could be worked with. Claiming that he was the first president to fund this research (despite being the first president to be put in the position to fund it), he gleefully accepted the mantle of a visionary.
Well, not so fast. Less than a third of those initial lines are available to researchers because of problems with the lines' growth or their ownership. The rest are contaminated by their growth source, mouse DNA, and therefore useless in actual medical applications.
The compromise forbids the destruction of any further embryos to create new lines of stem cells, which eventually will bring the science to a complete standstill. As John Kerry pointed out in last week's debate, thousands of frozen embryos owned legally by the government and labs, which face eventual destruction anyway, sit unused.
Is stem cell research tantamount to abortion? Has the Pandora's Box of cloning already been opened? These questions will continue to be debated and, from the standpoint of ethics, that debate should never abate.
But here are the facts: people, real people already confirmed to be alive, are suffering. The embryos exist. Research into the more pliable embryonic stem cells could eventually lead to a more judicious use of the non-controversial adult stem cells.
Other counties have already taken the lead in the research. The cures will come. The only question is whether the usually morally responsible United States will lead the way or lag dreadfully behind less scrupulous sources.
Thank you, Mr. Reeve, for making a believer out of this citizen.
