Mom can't afford treatment to save her kids
This one hits close to home. To have a child with a disease is terrible but to have two children with a rare disease must be unbearable. Lori Keeping & Sheldon Huelin originally from small communitys (Burnt Islands,NL)(Isle Aux Mort,NL) near my hometown has two children with Batten disease. Their 5-year-old daughter, Jamie, and their 2 -year-old son, Carson, both may have a short time to live.Their only hope may lie in series of stem cell procedures in China which the parents cannot afford.More on the story here........
Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, they can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.
The controversy mostly surrounding stem cell research are obtained from embryos, the concerns are similar to those surrounding abortion. Most opponents of legal abortions also oppose this research. In addition, the possibility that cell lines could be developed from cloned embryos raises ethical concerns associated with propriety of human cloning.
Some politicians support funding of this new technology for medical research purposes and recently 45 year old Michael J. Fox who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, is lending his support to US Congressional candidates who advocate stem cell research.
see below video.
Right now Lori & Sheldon do not care about the politics behind it all.They want a cure for the children and hopefully they'll get it! This little child did,Click here.
11 comments:
The million dollar question: is MJF REALLY that bad, or he putting on an exaggerated act for the cameras? It might be just me, but it seems he hesitated for a moment, then started moving when he started talking. But who am I to point fingers? I'm not a doctor. What do you think?
Keep Lookin Up
Rudy
I enjoy your blog very much and read it often. I am giving you my own personal opinion on the subject of stem cells and am not hoping to change anyone's mind. Just to tell how I feel about the subject.
I am against embryonic stem cell research because I feel it is taking a life. People often tell me that I feel this way because I don't know what it's like to have an incurable disease. I do know what it's like. I have Multiple Sclerosis.
I'm all for it. Especially if it saves the lives of children like Jamie and Carson. I always believed Christopher Reeve when he said he'd walk again.
I've had issues with organ transplants at different times due to the issue of one life ending so another could live. I don't see stem cells as being any different.
But you don't kill someone to take their organ.
Let's face it folks, whether it's legal or not, some women are going to get abortions. That's the reason why although I'm vehemently opposed to abortion on a personal level, I'm pro choice politically. Besides all of the problems related to back alley abortions, this is just one more reason why abortion should be legal. If these people insist on killing their unborn children, then why not let there be some good that comes out of it? From what I understand, stem cells for research aren't taken from aborted fetuses anyway, they're taken from fetuses that were grown in a test tube for implantation in infertility cases, and the parents of the unused fetuses are supposed to have given their permission for them to be used as such. When fertility doctors grow "test tube babies", they fertilize several eggs at a time and then pick one for implantation in the mother's womb, the rest just die anyway so why not use them? In the United States, it's illegal to obtain stem cells any other way as far as I know but I could be wrong.
When it comes to cloning, there's a mixed bag there as well. If we're talking about cloning an entire person, then I'd say no but strictly on moral grounds. But think of it. What better way could a doctor possibly have of repairing your damaged or diseased body, than by cloning your own organs? Need a liver? What if they could just grow you a new one right from your own DNA? When it's ready they could transplant it with no fear of rejection because it would be an exact genetic copy of the one they took out. Children born with faulty or missing organs could be normal after doctors regrew the needed parts from the child's own DNA. I think the potential benefits of stem cell research far outweigh the risks, and they definitely outweigh the superstitious fears of nitwits.
I don't believe stem cell research "kills" someone. And with research being done there may soon be a way to extract stem cells from embryos without destroying the embryo.
If it destroys and embryo, it kills a life. Just because an egg is fertilized in a petri dish doesn't make it any different than if it were fertilized through sexual intercourse. Destroy a fetus in the womb or destroy a fetus in a dish...it's still a fetus.
That's your opinion. Not the opinion of any other people and many scientist conducting the experiments. The question of "when does life begin?" is a deeply personal and individual issue. I don't think of cells in a dish as a life. I do, however, think of the person who's organ are transplanted to others as a life. I do value life but I don't feel that the rights of a "fetus", or cells in a dish, should be more important than the life of person's affected with chronic illness or injuries like spinal cord injuries.
One more thing I forgot in my previous post. I think you're using the term fetus incorrectly. Stem cells are withdrawn from embryos. An embryo is not considered a fetus until the eight stage of gestation.
Wouldn't it be a moot point in the case of embryos grown in a petri dish for implantation in an infertile mother that are going to be disposed of anyway? If they're already going to die, why not use them to potentially save or better the life of someone else? Perhaps you're morally opposed to the idea of "test tube babies", and if that's the case it's your right, but then that's the concept you need to address your opposition to. Not the method by which the unused embryos are disposed of.
I hope the parents find help for their child. It's significant that although the article points out the controversy with embryonic stem cells, the child referenced who got treatment in China was treated with umbilical cord stem cells, for which there is no controversy. These stem cells and others found in the tissues of children and adults, all non-controversial sources, have helped many patients in the US and other countries throughout the world.
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