Real Life Stem Cell Stories
These are real stories from real people who have already been waiting too long for the promise of stem cell research. Read them -- and then take action:
1) Tell your elected
officials to get rid of outdated policies and regulations that have already
held up stem cell research for too long; 2) Make a donation to StemPAC, and
help us spread the word. It's a grassroots movement, and we don't need much --
but any amount helps.
Got a story yourself? Make sure to share it today!
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My Name is Christopher Paul, 5 years ago I went for a bicycle ride near my mountain home above Boulder Colorado. Nearly home from a nice training ride on a crisp autumn day I was hit head on by a car. I can't really tell you what happened. I was in a coma for 4 days but accident photos confirm I went through this driver's windshield. I was not expected to survive the life flight from the accident scene to the trauma hospital in Denver. I sustained a grocery list of broken bones, contusions, including a ruptured artery and a broken back delivering a spinal cord injury at the 4th thoracic level. Why I'll never know but I somehow managed to survive the initial catastrophe only to enter an existence that is nothing short of a living hell. Living your life in a wheelchair is beyond the comprehension of any able-bodied person. Spinal cord injury is laced with violent muscle spasms, intense nerve pain, constant burning and throbbing. Loss of bowel, bladder, and sexual function. Also loss of balance, pressure sores, depression, anger, anxiety, muscle atrophy as the list goes on and on. Also one is hit daily with confrontations and limitation when out trying to function in a world that is not set up for this type of thing. I was a very active person before my accident and still try to be. When I reflect on all that has happened, if I could just feel the urge, control it and then get up and walk down the hall to go to the bathroom, life would be pretty good again. Funny what you take for granted as an able-bodied person. Being able to go to the bathroom, reach for things at eye level, get in and out of the car and quickly execute a task. Spinal cord injury is a card that is in everyone's deck. It doesn't discriminate at all. It cares not weather you are male, female, adult or child. It cares not what your genetic makeup is or your race, or creed. All persons are candidates for this condition and every 43 minutes in the US alone someone else joins this hellish asylum. Stem cell is a great hope to people like me. It⿿s a glimmer of tremendous possibility to regain a normal life. To walk down a sandy beach holding a loved one's hand. To be able to hug someone standing side by side. I would like one of the opponents of Stem cell research to look me in the eye and tell me face to face what they are saying in general. That my life is worth nothing and that I have no right to want to achieve good health again. It seems we are all about saving life at all costs but no regard is given to quality of life. Had I known what lay in store for me in surviving my accident, I would have chosen to pass. I was nearly there at the scene of the accident but due to medical intervention was kept alive. Its' time to finish the job. Its time to bring back ⿿quality of life⿿ to those who live, but suffer intensely from a multitude of conditions. With the great promise of this research and its ability to end the suffering of millions, ethically and morally it must be pursued without relent.
Read more stories. Get inspired, get angry, and then -- get into the fight!
