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do you feel their pain Dr. Fink? Stem-cell research funds needed Today, millions of children and adults suffer from incurable diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer, and spinal cord injuries. One of these people is my husband, who sustained a complete spinal cord injury in 2003. This injury has left him a permanent paraplegic and the pain and suffering that we and our family have endured is immeasurable. Hope is the great human emotion that helps us to endure hard times such as these. We try to have hope that some day treatments will be developed that will enable his condition to improve. Stem-cell research holds immense promise for treating or perhaps even curing spinal cord injuries and other currently incurable medical conditions. A small amount of basic research is ongoing in the United States, but so much more is needed before we can realize our hope that my husband could walk again. In 2001 President Bush restricted federal funding for stem-cell research, thereby hindering the ability of American scientists to pursue urgently needed research. Distressing as these restrictions were to us as concerned citizens, they took on even greater significance after July, 2003, when we realized that years had been lost that might have produced treatments that could have mitigated the severity of my husband's injury. Now we have a new source for hope. John Kerry and John Edwards have promised that they will lift the ideologically driven restrictions on stem-cell research that are impeding progress toward treatments and cures for millions of Americans suffering from debilitating diseases such as spinal cord injury. Had embryonic stem-cell research moved forward in 2001, it would be fully funded and supported by the federal government today. We urge people to join Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards and support lifting the ban on federal funding for stem-cell research. Sandra Kosek-Sills Maumee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn