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SCAN UPDATES: - We are putting the finishing touches on StemBlog, the site to network advocacy groups. We have already signed up eight organizations, and will begin a campaign to enlist many more partners. Go to www.stemblog.net and take a peek. Want to suggest a group to become part of the network? Contact me at [log in to unmask] with their web address. If you are part of such a group, please contact me to ask any questions. - We have received two excellent nominations for SCAN's "Advocacy Champions of 2006". Please send the names to me of other individuals who have tirelessly served our cause during the past year. - We will be sending out the names of members of the House of Representatives and a sample letter to target for HR 810. - Please include SCAN in your end-of-year list of donations. Thank you. December 29, 2006 Dear SCAN Members, We're all probably familiar with the dilemma of is it OK to say 'Merry Christmas' or should I be inclusive and just say 'Happy Holidays'?. Well, if you've figured out how you want to handle that one, don't relax just yet because I've got another one for you to chew on. Is it OK to wish me a "Happy and Healthy New Year" when I haven't had a healthy year since 1978, and don't think that the state of my health is going to dramatically improve in '07? The political correctness argument that is the source of the "Don't say "Christmas", say "Holidays" quarrel concerns the risk of seeming insensitive to differences when one communicates with someone, who, for example, is not a Christian. In a similar way, is it appropriate or considerate to wish me, or the millions of others with life-threatening diseases, a "Healthy New Year"? It's a lovely thought, but to smile and accept it graciously we are required to collude with either the outright denial of our condition or accept the vague idea that somehow, something magical might happen to make this wish come true. The truth is that I was pretty resigned to being a good sport and to keep quiet during all the years when there wasn't much hope of a treatment or cure in the cards. But now, when stem cell research has put many of the key puzzles of basic science on the working agenda instead of "for dreamers only" I find that passivity isn't so comfortable anymore. I do understand that the wish is well-intentioned, but as a non-Christian I often feel uneasy accepting Christmas wishes; as a person with multiple sclerosis, I appreciate the thought of a healthy year, but the wish feels hollow, misplaced. I'd prefer that the well-wishers think more carefully about what it's like to live with a serious illness, every day, and to have to stand by and watch while politicians make decisions that affects the funding and thus the time frame of treatments, even cures. So what's the better choice? - Instead of sending me a card, donate the cost and the postage to research. - Ask me how you can help. - Be informed about the laws in your state that support research or limit it. - Write letters to Congress when asked. - Get involved: exchange empty wishes for targeted advocacy. - Don't ask me to pretend that I'm just like you, when I'm not. And by the way, here is my number one wish for '07: I wish that everyone with an illness that could be helped by stem cell research finds a way to connect with the rest of the 100 million potential beneficiaries and that together we create a force to be reckoned with. Do you think this can be done? Let me know. Idelle Datlof Executive Director Stem Cell Action Network ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn