SARAH PALIN AND CHRISTOPHER REEVE: A Special Needs Parent Speaks Out

According to Sarah Palin, if John McCain is elected President, she will be
put in charge of cure research.

Governor Palin states: "John and I have worked out a plan. My mission is
going to be energy security and government reform. And another thing near
and dear to my heart, it's going to be helping families who have special
needs and children with special needs. And we're going to be pushing for
innovative cures of diseases." *

Innovative cures?  Special needs families? As far as I know, Governor 
Palin's
only background in either area is that she opposes embryonic stem cell
research-- and that she has a six-month old baby with Down's Syndrome.    At
age 44, Ms. Palin chose to have a fifth child. When she found out the unborn
child had Down's Syndrome, she chose to continue with the pregnancy.Fair
enough. Those were her choices, and choice is important for every woman.

But does she have any knowledge of the real world of special needs
families?Right now, her baby requires only normal infant care: to be fed and
changed and loved. When the "special needs" part of his life begins,
Governor Palin's income level will allow her to hire nannies and servants to
care for her child.
Most of us do not have Ms. Palin's advantages. For millions of American
families, having a "special needs" member (a mentally or physically disabled
person, old or young) means exhausting physical labors of care-giving,
endless emotional stress, and bills we cannot afford.

At the age of nineteen, my son Roman Reed broke his neck in a college
football accident. He was paralyzed from the shoulders down. The doctors
gave us no hope: Roman would never walk again, they said: never close his
fingers, probably never father a child; and, due to his shortened life
expectancy, his mother Gloria and I might outlive our own son.

Before this happened, if I saw a person in a wheelchair, I never stopped to
think how they got there. Who lifted them out of bed in the morning, helped
them take a shower? Did they need assistance to use the rest room, to get
dressed? Could they breathe on their own? If not, who changes the battery in
their respirator? Who helps them turn over in bed during the night? Will she
or he need to be institutionalized? If so, who will pay?

Many families break up under this stress. John McCain, for example, divorced
his first wife when she became disabled.

If Ms. Palin truly wanted to be the "friend and advocate of special needs
families", as she so perkily promised at the Republican Convention, she
could begin by opposing John McCain's negative position on the Community
Choice Act, which he says we cannot afford. The Community Choice Act would
allow people with disabilities to receive government assistance at home,
with their families, instead of being institutionalized.

We do know Ms. Palin is in favor of government assistance, at least for
herself, as she personally requested and received more than three hundred
days travel pay (per diem) even though she was not actually traveling on
those days.

In addition to care for special needs individuals, America must work for
cures.  My family knows about this, up close and personal. California passed
a law named after our son, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of
1999. It is just a small law, one and a half million dollars a year-but it
made possible the nation's first state-funded embryonic stem cell research.

On March 1, 2002 , opening day of the Roman Reed Laboratory at UC Irvine, I
held in my hand a laboratory rat which had been paralyzed, but which now
walked again-- and this while my son watched from his wheelchair.  The
experiment was so successful that Geron Corporation funded further work on
it, taking it all the way to the Food and Drug Administration, where it is
currently being considered for human trials. If all goes well, newly
paralyzed people may one day have the chance my son did not-to walk out of
the hospital, instead of being condemned to a wheelchair for life.

Far more importantly, California voters passed a magnificent stem cell
research program, to fund the science President George Bush so cruelly
restricted.
And it was our son who suggested the official motto for that program, the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, (CIRM): "Turning stem cells
into cures."

Today, we have hope. But it would all be swept away by Sarah Palin.
Embryonic stem cell research would quite literally become against the law if
Sara Palin and the GOP get their way. The official Republican platform calls
for the complete prohibition of embryonic stem cell research, both public
and private; even George Bush did not take such an extreme position.

Not only paralysis cure is at risk. We are fighting for relief from cancer,
which killed my mother and older sister. Embryonic stem cell research is
crucial in the battle against Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, stroke,
diabetes, blindness, Parkinson's-and Down's Syndrome.  In England , where
the government supports it, embryonic stem cell research led to a clearer
understanding of the causes of Down's Syndrome, an important step towards
cure.

Which brings us to another choice for Sarah Palin-when cure does come, will
she allow her son to become well?   She might say no. There are people who
do not accept medical treatment for religious reasons. X-rays were
originally frowned on by some, because it was thought they might be used to
see through women's clothing. Others said chicken pox was God's punishment
for sin, and it was wrong to develop a vaccine to cure it. Even today folks
may refuse blood transfusions; others believe in the power of healing by
faith alone-- as is their right.

But should religion be allowed to block my son's chances to walk again?
American families deserve access to the best care science can provide: to
ease suffering and save the lives of our children, our brothers and sisters,
and our neighbors too.

Our country has an estimated one hundred million citizens with incurable
disease or disability. These are not just empty statistics, but our loved
ones, members of your family and mine. They are the reason America supports
stem cell research.  Also, we are plain common sense practical. We see the
results of too many people not getting well. Last year, America spent $2
trillion dollars on health care-a mountain of money, more than all federal
income taxes put together. Three-fourths of that went to the maintenance of
people with chronic disease or disability, who will never be healed: except,
perhaps, with stem cell research.

If we want affordable health care, we must support cure research. We will
not be tricked into believing there are alternatives to embryonic stem cells
that are just as good. Those arguments have been made for years. They were
not true then, and they are not true now. If there is a cure for paralysis,
fine: show it to me. But until then, politicians should not insult my
intelligence by pretending those cures exist.

To understand what an extreme position Sarah Palin and the Republican Party
are taking on stem cell research, we need only compare the lists of groups
who argued about a simple bipartisan bill expanding President Bush's
restrictive embryonic stem cell research policies: the Stem Cell Research
Expansion Act (Castle,DeGette).

First, how many groups opposed the relaxation of restrictions? Seventeen.
That's right, seventeen: and every one was a conservative religious and/or
ideological organization.**

How many groups supported embryonic stem cell research? Five hundred and
eighteen: every major scientific, educational, medical or patient rights
group that took a position on the issue, including the American Medical
Association.***At the end of this article, you will find both lists: 17
against embryonic, 518 in favor. (If you want to print out the list be
supporting groups, be warned: it is long, almost 14 pages.

I do not think Ms. Palin has a lot of scientific background.  For example,
as Governor of Alaska, she wanted to spend several million dollars of
taxpayer money killing wolves, shooting them from airplanes, figuring that
would result in more moose for human hunters to kill. As wolves actually
protect the moose population by killing the weak and sick, thereby
preventing the spread of disease, Palin's plan to wipe out natural predators
does not make a great deal of sense.

But her wolf-slaughter policy does remind me of something a farmer once
said.A fox in the henhouse will kill a chicken, he said, maybe take one
along to eat later.
 But a weasel will go blood crazy-- and kill every chicken in the coop.

John McCain says he supports embryonic stem cell research.  But to please
the anti-science wing of his party, he would let an enemy of the research
have influence over it.  Giving Sarah Palin power over research, is like
tossing a weasel in the henhouse-- and pretending it will only supervise.

Enough.  As Barrack Obama said, in a one-word rejection of failed policies:
enough. I am tired of a White House which does not reflect my hopes for a
better America . I want a President who will work on the problems with the
idea of really solving them, not just smiling and waving at us from a
platform.
 And one thing more. I want to see the fulfillment of Christopher Reeve's
great dream.

Years ago, our local school did a fundraiser for the paralyzed Superman. I
wrote a play, and the kids in my multicultural club (True Colors) produced
it, giving up their lunchtime all year to make it happen. We put on the
play, charged admission, and sent $2,000 to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis
Foundation. It wasn't much, but it came from the heart, and Superman
responded.

 In a dictated letter our family will always treasure, Christopher Reeve
said:

"One day, Roman and I will rise up from our wheelchairs, and walk away from
them forever."ure did not come in time for Christopher Reeve. Our champion
has fallen. But the flame of his faith still lights our way. Barack Obama
has taken up the torch of scientific freedom, the power that lifted us to
the moon, and accepts no limitations.

America will prevail.

*"Palin Outlines Four-Point Focus in McCain Administration. Says She'll
Focus on Energy, Reform, Special Needs Care, and Disease Cures." --Scott
Conroy, CBS News, September 15th, 2008

**17 groups in opposition to embryonic stem cell research:
Republican Study Committee. "H.R. 3 - Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of
2007" Legislative Bulletin. January 10, 2007 .

National Right to Life Committee
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Family Research Council
Christian Coalition
Concerned Women for America
Focus on the Family
Christian Medical Association
Eagle Forum
Traditional Values Coalition
Southern Baptist Convention
Susan B. Anthony List
Republican National Committee for Life
Cornerstone Policy Research
Culture of Life Foundation
Religious Freedom Coalition
Coral Ridge Ministries
Center For Reclaiming America

***518 Groups in favor of the Stem Cell Research Expansion Act (open letter,
13 pages long) - I will email it to you as an attachment  - it is too long 
to post, Ray

Don C. Reed  Sponsor, Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act  Founder
and Co-Chair, Californians for Cures. Don Reed is also Vice President of
Public Policy for Americans for Cures Foundation; opinions voiced here as an
individual may or may not reflect

Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
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