Here's what Patty Davis (Reagan) said today about Chris Reeve and stem cell research.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6232686/site/newsweek/
Opinion: The Life He Left Behind
People who never met Christopher Reeve were emboldened by his crusade. If only President Bush had been one of them
By Patti Davis
Newsweek
Updated: 11:56 a.m. ET Oct. 12, 2004
Oct. 12 - I wonder if President Bush could look into the eyes of Christopher Reeves family and tell them that its because he values life so deeply that he is preserving clusters of cells in freezerscells that resulted from in-vitro fertilization and could be used for embryonic stem cell treatmentdespite the fact that more people will die as a result of his decision. I wonder if he could stare into their grief and defend the fact that he has released only a few lines of stem cellslines that are basically useless because they have been contaminated. Or brazenly point out that he has authorized funding for adult stem cellswhich do not hold the same miraculous potential as embryonic stem cells.
The sad fact is, the president probably could. After all, Laura Bush went on national television during the week of my fathers funeral and spoke out against embryonic stem cell research, pointing out that where Alzheimers is concerned, we dont have proof that stem-cell treatment would be effective. It wasnt too long after that interview that she gave a speech in which she chided people for offering false hope to the families of Alzheimers patients. In a sweetly patronizing tone, she said its 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 its around a very wide bend, which we cant 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 hopenothing else.
Christopher Reeve understood that. He knew that everything begins with hope. His vision of walking again, his belief that he would be able to in his lifetime, towered over his broken body. His tireless work, his commitment to help turn stem-cell treatment into a reality revealed a courage that was molded out of fire and pain and tears. It was unbreakable. It was huge. It transcended paralysis. With that courage, he did more than walk; he soared. Many of us learned a valuable lesson about hope from a man whose life changed dramatically on a single afternoon. We learned that its limitless, that its as real as you allow it to be.
Even if the Bush Administration had flung open the gates to stem-cell research years ago, we would not be at the point of offering treatment today. Christopher Reeve would still have been taken from us. But we would be closer. Other people who are confined to wheelchairs or imprisoned by illness would have more hope. Scientists would be working feverishly to turn this miraculous cure loose on the world. Because they have families too. They have loved ones and friends, and they value them more than clusters of cells that will only ever be clusters of cells. With each day, each month, each year that passes more people will die. We will look at names, at lives, and we will be left with the sad truth that many of them didnt have to die.
Some people, when they die, leave so much life behind that we wonder how they did it. How did a man paralyzed from the neck down find the strength, the reserve, the energy to do so much in these past years? People who never met Christopher Reeve were emboldened by his crusade; they were infused with faith and confidence, where before things had looked terribly bleak.
He said in an interview a few years ago that when he dreamed, he was never in a wheelchair. In his dreams, he walked and ran and sailed on the sea. He is doing all of that nowfar beyond this world and the body that wouldnt allow him those freedoms. Hes left the rest of us with a responsibilityto never let anyone stop us from one of the most towering medical achievements in history. To never let anyone call our hopes false.
© 2004 Newsweek
