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# 208 Tuesday, August 8, 2006 - FALLING, AND PARKINSON'S The "pratfall", a slip-on-the-banana-peel moment, is one of the down-deep funniest laugh out loud comedic mishaps, perhaps because it is universal. It happens to some more than others, unfortunately; I have a long and varied history of un-coordination, a combination of natural talent and practice. It is a gross exaggeration, however, that I can be located in a house by the sound of falling objects. Some days I hardly knock anything over at all. One of my falls, did, however, have deep romantic consequences. It happened at our high school's Senior Ditch Day, when the entire class took a day off and went to the local park, a grassy area, sloping hills around a pool. We were all healthy, young, and in swim suits and it seemed like everybody was picking up somebody lovely and tossing them into the water. I could do that, I thought. So I snatched up my girlfriend and ran down the slope. I really did see the tree root, bulging up from the grass, and even recognized it as a threat. There was no way my foot was going to slip under that root and trip me, I thought-just before exactly that took place. Foot found root, my body stopped-but hers did not. As in slow motion I watched her-cute in her two piece swim suit-flying out of my arms, soaring briefly, rotating in the air, before landing spectacularly on her rear, and bouncing. The entire graduating class of Castro Valley High School, 1963, as well as most of the Western world, paused to take notice. No harm was done, except to our mutual dignity, but we severed our relationship the following day. Still, if we had not broken up, I might never have met Gloria! Not every fall has such happy consequences. I am sixty now, not seventeen. And the world is not all young grass and soft earth. Did you know that among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths? According to the Parkinson's Foundation of the Heartland, "roughly 1.6 million seniors were treated in emergency rooms for fall related injuries, with 388,000 requiring hospitalization. Of those who fall, 20-30% suffer moderate to severe injuries such as hip fractures or head traumas that reduce mobility and independence, and increase the risk of premature death." Among Parkinson's patients, the danger of falling is multiplied. There is something called "freezing", where the body simply refuses to obey its owner's commands, and the feet seem glued to the floor. This can result in loss of balance, and a devastating fall. Low blood pressure can bring on a wave of dizziness, increasing the danger. I think I mentioned I have been trying to learn a little about Parkinson's? We in the advocacy movement need to know more than just our specialty, the injury or illness which drove us here. Spinal cord injury paralysis was my reason for involvement, but if I stuck to that concern exclusively, I would be weak. Advocacy must not be different groups fighting each other for pieces of a too-small pie. Finding commonalities among medical conditions-- "Piggybacking" cure research-may be the key to stem cell cures. If two diseases do similar damage to the body or mind, finding help for one may assist in the alleviation of the other. If spinal cord injury, autism, and Parkinson's turn out to have something in common, (like demyelination, the loss of nerve insulation, for example) millions of patients involved have vastly greater power working together. One of the strongest advocates for such team effort is Joan Samuelson, founder of the Parkinson's Action Network. While enduring the condition herself, she brings her lawyer skills to the advocacy arena, and always fights to keep patients' needs first and foremost on the ICOC (Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee) agenda. I hope to do an interview with her at some point, but before I do that, I need to know a little bit about the condition. So I have been studying-and once again, everything comes back to Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, (SCNT) and the conservatives' battle to ban it. If Republicans retain control of the Congress, high on the list of their publicly stated goals-- their so-called "Values Agenda"-- is the Human Cloning Prohibition Act, to criminalize Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, (SCNT), called by some therapeutic cloning. While working on a position paper on Weldon-Brownback (the ban on SCNT, named after David Weldon (R-FL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), I came across Greg Wasson's testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, in 2003. He was opposing the Bush-backed attempt to ban Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. This was the second of three times the Republicans had tried to pass the ban. The first time, it was shoved through the House of Representatives without even a public hearing. and it is still up for grabs today. (Remember, this is the bill which would put scientists, doctors, patients and parents in jail for ten years-plus a million dollar fine-for trying to heal with SCNT.) Greg Wasson said: "Eight years ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. My fiancée, Ann Campbell. was given the same diagnosis that same year. I was a lawyer. Ann was an editor and children's book author. Within five years of diagnosis we were both forced to retire on disability. "An estimated 1 million Americans have Parkinson's, a progressive, degenerative brain disorder that is presently incurable, whose cause is unknown, and which slowly robs its victims of the ability to move properly - and eventually to move at all. "I take 25 pills per day, yet have increasing difficulty controlling my symptoms. These medications.do nothing to slow the progress of my disease. "For both Ann and myself, the time will come when our medications fail us permanently, and we will be totally functionally disabled. We will leave this world and entire a twilight world of immobility, encased in our bodies as if in tombs, able to think but not speak, understand but not communicate. Death will inevitably follow, and by then it may not be unwelcome. "Parkinson's is just one of many chronic diseases and conditions that are fatal at worst and leave their victims permanently disabled at best. These diseases and conditions affect more than 100 million Americans. Each of us here has a loved one or friend who has a disease such as Alzheimer's, ALS, diabetes, or Parkinson's. "We are not without hope. Regenerative medicine, including responsibly regulated therapeutic cloning (SCNT), may lead to a cure or treatment for Parkinson's disease, ALS, and a host of other diseases and conditions. As you have heard today from the scientific panel, human reproductive cloning (to make babies-DR) and cloning for therapeutic medical purposes are not the same. An unfertilized ball of perhaps 100 cells. is neither a human life nor anything near it. The use of SCNT does not destroy human beings - it is an attempt to restore human life. "Ann Campbell and I, along with millions of other Americans, are human beings - human beings living with terrible diseases that will kill us unless cures are found. The willingness of some here to sacrifice our lives, to place less value on our lives than on a chemically produced, unfertilized mass of cells perhaps grown from one of our own hair follicles is the real crime, the real shame. "Compassion and common sense must prevail; ignoring the potential of therapeutic cloning would be a national tragedy and a huge mistake. But as with other scientific advances, a vocal and well-organized minority is trying to stop this research. Galileo, Columbus, and a South African physician named Christian Barnard, all held scientific beliefs that frightened their contemporaries. But the earth does revolve around the sun, the earth is not flat, and today heart transplants are commonplace. "Today the target of scientific fear is therapeutic cloning. ".because we have hope and faith that this country will recognize the value of research into regenerative medicine, Ann and I are getting married this fall. "On our wedding day, we will raise a glass to the promise of a new day when diseases like Parkinson's are simply a terrible memory."-Greg Wasson, March 19, 2003 May that better day come soon. Remember in November. P.S. Do you know someone disabled? Is he or she registered to vote? If not, ask if you can help him or her. They can register on line, (takes about ten minutes) and ask for an absentee ballot, mailed to the house. Their vote may be crucial in our hopes for a House and Senate which supports medical research, the Americans for Disability Acts, veterans' benefits, and many other issues important to the disability community. By Don Reed www.stemcellbattles.com Submit Comments or Questions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn