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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 [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn