Paralysis costs every Californian $131.57 -- and that is not to cure anybody, just to pay the medical bills.

How much does paralysis cost you in your state? You can easily figure it out.

According to the latest major survey, 5.6 million Americans are paralyzed -- 1.9 per...

Every paralyzed person is unique. His or her body may have areas of partial or total numbness, so skin sensations do not warn of danger.

My paralyzed son Roman Reed has twice burned himself severely by touching something hot and not...

If you or someone you know wants to be a stem cell researcher, read this article carefully, because it could be a career-maker.

To be a stem cell researcher or biomedical lab worker is a noble career: not only would you be helping to save lives and ease suffering, but...

Imagine being paralyzed: whatever position you are in right now, you must stay there-- until someone comes to move you.

As an American, the chances of you becoming paralyzed are roughly one in fifty.

With a U.S. population of 315 million, an estimated 5.6 million children and...

Blasts of wind shook my little car as I drove onto the bridge over the American River, on the road to Sacramento.

I was going to the state Capitol for a very happy reason: the fight for paralysis cure. For the third year in a row, patient advocates were trying...

In a few hours my paralyzed son Roman Reed and I will be driving to Sacramento, to fight for funding for spinal cord injury research (AB 714, Wieckowski, D-Fremont). In 2010, a small but powerful law, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act, had its funding removed.

In 2011...

A 1940s black and white cartoon featured a war between mice and cats, in which the cats looked very much like Nazis. The mice were under attack, the odds were against them. But they organized, fought back -- and (with a little help from Mighty Mouse!) defeated the Nazi cats.

Remember Muhammad Ali's great fight against George Foreman? The odds were overwhelmingly against Ali. Huge-armed Foreman was young, strong to uproot trees, or run up the side of a mountain for idle amusement. He hit Joe Frazier so hard in the stomach, the blows literally lifted Joltin' Joe into the...

Few institutions are more beloved -- and more often attacked -- than the California stem cell research program, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

For patient advocates like my paralyzed son Roman Reed and myself, the $6 billion program is like nothing else on earth: an institute solely designed...

In what appears another "say no to anything from the White House" move, Senate Republicans blocked a United Nations treaty which could have helped disabled children, women and men around the world -- at no cost whatsoever to the American taxpayer.

According to The Hill:

"The treaty, backed by President...

2012 was a banner year for the cause of cure.

First among our stem cell electoral victories was the re-election of President Barack Obama. The impact of a pro-science president cannot be overestimated. In Obama we have both a man who can reason with facts (instead of blind ideology), but...

This Sunday my brother called me to say: "I really can't decide who to vote for -- Obama or that other guy."

I was incoherent for a moment. The election is today, and he had not made up his mind?

When I ceased spluttering, and ascertained that he really wasn't...

There is a photograph of President Obama which for me sums up his first four years in office. He is standing in darkness on the White House lawn, his navy blue coat glistening with rain. But he is not scampering for shelter. He is looking ahead.

Four years ago, Obama...

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "Nearly one in five people in the U.S. have a disability."

This includes people like my son, Roman Reed, paralyzed 17 years from a college football accident. It might include you, or someone you love.

This is an enormous bloc of voters,...

What would you do, if you found an enemy in your house?

Would you let him move in and take over--or encourage him to vacate the premises?

Regarding the House of Representatives, there are 17 Congressmen whom I believe we should show the electoral door.

These are men whose...

The Missouri Senate contest between Claire McCaskill and Todd Akin is astonishing, even without the latter's "legitimate rape" opinions.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "During a debate Thursday night, McCaskill criticized Akin for supporting proposals that she said amounted to "privatizing...

A powerful new ad just went on the air for the Colorado House of Representatives race.

The ad focuses on Republican Mike Coffman, (CO-6th) but could also apply to another Colorado Republican candidate, Joe Coors (CO-7th).

The ad shows what could happen to us or our...

Can you remember the worst pain you ever had?

For me, it was when I broke both arms. I was six years old, and showing off for two girls in our neighborhood playground. Swinging on the swing, higher and higher, I announced that I was going to jump, and...

Had Republicans like Mitt Romney and George Bush gotten their way, this year's Nobel Prize-winning research would have been criminalized.

Two scientists were honored this year, for work which may one day lead to an effective non-embryonic stem cell research technique. Both would have been declared criminals by Republican presidential...

As a smudged fingerprint could identify a person, so a single political action may reveal a candidate's character.

The Ohio Senate race between Sherrod Brown, Democratic incumbent, and Josh Mandel, Republican challenger, is to my knowledge the most expensive Senate race this year -- perhaps of all time.