A quadriplegic's response to a soccer mom, et al

[FourScore]

A quadriplegic's response to a soccer mom, et al
by Zacapoet
Mon Nov 01, 2010 at 10:04:55 AM PDT

I used to play soccer. I was on a championship team in high school, and I played in Africa in exhibition games for villagers who had never seen a white man, let alone a white man kicking a soccer ball.

Now I watch my stepdaughter play soccer from my wheelchair. I revel in her enthusiasm, her joy at gaining a little bit of mastery over her body. I spent last summer taking her and her brother to tennis lessons and swimming lessons, which I paid for. Neither are very good athletes, but the point of youth athletics isn't sifting the stars from the mediocre, but making sure everyone gets their shot.

I was a star. I set records in track at my high school that still stand, 35 years later. When I ended up in rehab after breaking my neck at C-5/6 the physical therapists commented that I must have had amazing coordination, to be able to do SO MUCH with so little of my body intact!

The body I left the rehab center with was far different than the one that entered the building. My 44 inch chest withered to a 38. My powerful legs dwindled. Still, I was fortunate: most of the damage to my spine was a result of being injured in Africa, days from medical care. Had I sustained the same injuries in America I'd probably be hiking today. This gives me hope that the 'small' damages to my spine might be repaired some day.

GERON Corp. is currently doing clinical trials on quadriplegics using embryonic stem cells. These are tier 2 human tests; actual therapy as opposed to trials proving whether the stem cells might hurt the target. GERON has perfected a method of pinpointing the stem cells right where the damage has been done.

This isn't about idealism, it is about money: GERON sees a huge market if it can perfect its methodology and patent it. There are millions of people like me, consuming health services and failing to make a full contribution to society. This therapy might change that dynamic.

President Obama signed the legislation that gave GERON and its competitors the green light to go ahead with their investments. A lot of money is waiting on the sidelines, ready to pour in if/when a viable treatment is ready to go.

One thing investors don't like is uncertainty: will government approval of GERON's trials be revoked? Will the HHS Secretary approve the therapy once it works and make it eligible for insurance to pay?

About that idealism: for people like Ken Buck, Rand Paul, Sharon Angle, etc, it is idealism that makes them want to kill this research and therapy. These nutjobs know that it will be too late to stop embryonic stem cell therapy once it is conclusively proven effective. So they plan to go to Bethlehem and kill the babe in its crib--kill all babes if they have to, to prevent this magic from escaping into the world.

I have read SO MANY posts and comments from 'progressives' and 'independents' about Obama and the Dems not being enough this or that and why they shouldn't deserve our votes, but how many of those critics are sitting in wheelchairs? How many sat in bewilderment and anger for 8 years as bush ground progress under his bootheel just so that he could burnish his bonafides with the mouthbreathers and phony Christians?

Soccer mom, I pray that you are never in the position of my recently-departed mother when she was a former soccer mom who watched as her son had to be spoon fed for months until he could finally move one finger on one arm.

Someone once told me that they 'understood' what I was going through as a result of being caught in a torrential storm one afternoon. 'There was nothing I could do to prevent getting soaked...and from that I got what your life must be like, Zac.'

I looked at this guy, shook my head, and responded, 'The thing is, pal, YOU dried off eventually.'

I don't have to think twice about who I'm voting for or why. A wheelchair has a way of simplifying complicated issues.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/1/915691/-A-quadriplegics-response-to-a-soccer-mom,-et-al