Is anybody going to tell me we must protect undifferentiated cells at
Brooke's expense?
URGENT - Help protect stem cell research in November elections
#237 Friday, October 13, 2006 - MISS MARPLE AND THE PARALYZED SENATOR:
BROOKE ELLISON?
What would you do if you saw a murder committed on a train?
Naah, too easy.
Let's make it that you are on a passing train, and you see the murder (a
strangling) done through the carelessly open windows of another train.
Still too easy?
Alright, let's make you seventy-four years old, a nice "dotty" old lady,
whom nobody believes.
If you were Agatha Christy's detective, Miss Marple, as portrayed by
Margaret Rutherford in the classic Murder, She Said, you would take a job as
a maid in the imagined murderer's home.
As Gloria and I sat watching the film, I kept saying, no, don't go in there,
it's not safe, Miss Marple, just call the police and go back to bed!
She didn't listen to me, fortunately, and the result is a lovely old movie.
Plainly impossible, of course.
Being a detective requires great physical strength, doesn't it?
Hmm. Perhaps not. When too-vigorous physical action is required, a younger
and more vigorous personage could be employed-"You there, young man, I want
you to jump through that plate glass window and arrest the-what's that? You'd
rather go around? Never mind, I'll do it myself."
Maybe, being a detective needs a "noticing mind", as author Christy put it.
And a will of iron.
Brooke Ellison, candidate for New York State Senator, has demonstrated both.
In 1990, 11-year-old Brooke Ellison was struck by a car. In an instant she
became paralyzed, unable even to breathe without assistance: she had become
a vent-dependent quadriplegic.
It was to have been her first day of Junior High school.
One moment she was an athletic, intelligent, cheerful young girl-and the
next?
Listen to her mother.
"Try to imagine being in a chair with your feet bound and your hands tied
behind your back. Then imagine being on a machine that gives you thirteen
breaths per minute and doesn't allow you to sigh, or take a deep breath when
you feel you need one. Then imagine never being able to use the bathroom or
shower when you want to, to brush your teeth, feed yourself, scratch an
itch, or wipe your eyes if you need to cry. Imagine never having any
privacy,.never being able to hug someone when you really want to.
Compound that with sleepless nights when you are unable to breathe,
equipment failures that threaten your life, and wheelchair malfunctions that
leave you stranded in bed.
Then put yourself in one of the most rigorous academic settings in the world
and ask yourself to read thousands of pages of text without being able to
turn the pages; attend lectures, seminars, and labs in all kinds of
god-awful weather, study, prepare papers, take tests, and then do an
original independent research thesis, submit it on time, and ultimately
defend it. That will just start to scratch the surface of what it's like for
Brooke." - Jean Ellison"
Most of us would probably have accepted our new limitations fully, lived
our lives carefully, making as few ripples as possible.
But that is not Brooke Ellison.
First, of course, she had to graduate number one in her junior high school
academically.
In high school, she got an A plus average, and 1510 on her SAT scores.
So, why not go to Harvard, perhaps the most rigorous and challenging
academic environment on earth?
She did. With her mother by her side, (setting an impossible standard for
parents anywhere), Brooke Ellison graduated from Harvard with a degree in
cognitive neuroscience-later a Master's-- without ever being able to turn a
page of a book.
Then, she wrote her own book, she and her mom, together, in just six months.
Miracles Happen: One Mother, One Daughter, One Journey. Hyperion Press, New
York, 2002. ISBN 0-7868-6770-1.
Brooke and Jean wrote alternate chapters, speaking into a voice-activated
computer.
And in his last filmic endeavor, Christopher Reeve directed her story in the
movie: The Brooke Ellison Story.
Well, that's more than most folks accomplish in a lifetime-that's the end of
the story, right?
Not exactly.
Brooke Ellison is running for New York State Senator.
Now that's obviously impossible, right?
A Senator has to be physically fit, a good runner, maybe a weightlifter--
you know, like President George Bush.
Hmm.
On the other hand.
I met Brooke Ellison at the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act rally, in
Washington DC.
She is an attractive woman, beautiful eyes, warm genuine smile.
But what I remember is: she looked at me. Does that make sense?
I have met a lot of politicians and a few superstars.
And one difference is this: the politicians flexed their teeth, gripped your
hand firmly and moved down the line, busybusybusy.
The stars looked at you. They might have only 1/5th of a second, but in that
instant, they focused on you.
That was what Brooke did. Here she was, just seconds away from making a
speech which would be on national TV but she had time to say hello, and not
just a nice-to-meet-you-gotta-go kind of hello. She smiled from the heart.
She supports stem cell research, and believes there will be a cure for
spinal cord injury.
But in the meantime, she is living life fiercely, doing what has never been
done before, again and again: the first quadriplegic to graduate from
Harvard, and now attempting to be the first Suffolk Democrat in 100 years to
win a seat in the New York Senate.
Her philosophy?
"Wherever there is a condition of inopportunity, that's where I hope to be."
So let's see, Brooke Ellison cares about people, she is extraordinarily
intelligent, and she is tough like tempered steel.
Is that the kind of person we want making decisions in government?
Some folks think so.
Brooke Ellison's campaign for New York State Senate is endorsed by:
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton.
Elliot Spitzer.
State Senator David Paterson.
State Senator Liz Krueger.
Former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo.
United Food and Commercial Workers.
NARAL-NY.
Suffolk County Legislature's Democratic Caucus-- and a bunch more good folks
and groups.
Me, too.
For more information, or if you want to lend a hand with her campaign, check
out her website:
http://www.brookeellison.com/
Must-see TV - Brooke's brand new TV spot. Just out. Brooke Ellison for
State Senate
Volunteers, anyone?
Contact: Miriam Danar
Volunteer for Brooke
[log in to unmask]
Don C. Reed, Chair, Californians for Cures, www.stemcellbattles
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