Stem Cell Research Offers Hope to Type 1 Diabetics

When does life begin? Discussion around stem cell research usually forces us to confront this issue. I'm torn. I'm a diabetic. I have an embryo in the freezer. And I don't know if I personally could give up my own embryo to cure my own disease.

But I have to agree with Stacey_D. I hope that Barack Obama and a new administration will lift the restrictions around stem cell research and allow science to explore the possibilities -- cures for cancer, diabetes, even spinal chord injuries.

When does life begin? I don't know. But I do know that we shouldn't turn our backs on the people who desperately need cures to their diseases and who are with us, right here and right now.

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By Stacey_D

Two weeks before Halloween 1985, I was diagnosed with Type 1 - or Juvenile - Diabetes. I was 9 years old. I couldn't comprehend this new disease. I only got the gist of it when my mom told me, "Sorry, kid, no Halloween candy for you this year." That, and all the shots. Oh, the shots. So many needles.

When I was 11, I found one of my mom's old nursing textbooks on the bookshelf and looked up Diabetes. The first entry showed a picture of a shriveled preemie and the frightening caption: "A diabetic's baby." I freaked. My mom explained the textbook had been written decades earlier, and that scientists were making leaps and bounds towards a cure for my type of Diabetes. "I bet you they'll have a cure in five years," she said confidently.

Now, twenty-odd years later, I'm still waiting for that cure. Waiting for that day when I don't have to give myself injections of insulin and prick my finger to test my blood sugar. Waiting for that day when I can skip a meal or eat a hot fudge sundae. Waiting for that day when my pancreas starts working again and I don't have to worry about a future full of complications like blindness, amputation and freaky shriveled babies. (Every time I think about having a baby, I remember Julia Roberts as Shelby in "Steel Magnolias" and it ruins my day.)

Our current president, George W., has twice vetoed bills passed by Congress that would have lifted restrictions on stem cell research. Bush has made clear he will not condone embryonic stem cell research. It's a touchy issue - as touchy to some as abortion - because some people consider these embryonic stem cells to be little itty-bitty unborn babies, since they hold in them the makings of human life. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands embryos stored across the U.S., most of them reserved for infertile couples. And many of these embryos will go unused when they could go towards scientific research, with the possibility of curing diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or Type 1 Diabetes. Currently, American scientists are forced to utilize in their research adult stem cells, which have numerous limitations.

But there's hope with our new President-Elect. Barack Obama has made clear his intention to lift restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. As he states on his website: "We should expand and accelerate research using these embryos, just as we should continue to explore the viability of adult stem cell use, cord blood use, and amniotic fluid use."

Scientific progress has been forced to a standstill these past eight years. Let's see research and development move forward to bring the American medical community up to date with foreign nations, who have been going forward with embryonic stem cell research in hopes of curing diseases. Not to be selfish, but c'mon... I really want a hot fudge sundae.

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Comments

[SaraKay Smullens - Huffpost Blogger]

Correcting my error in last blog: I should have said "child with diabetes" and not "diabetic child"....for obvious reasons. This illness, with all of its hell, does not define the child. Our children who suffer are so very brave. Even as their sugar becomes unpredictable when they are doing everything right....they fight the disease, as do their parents......they live, they try, they grow, they have fun with their friends, and they learn. Our granddaughter, Charlotte Rose, age 7, has a small part in this year's Washington Ballet's Nutcracker. You have all read of so many other children, doing so much -- living bravely with hope.......

[SaraKay Smullens - Huffpost Blogger]

On January 3, 2008 my husband, Stan, and I were on our way to a first cruise ship holiday alone in our almost 30 year marriage. (We had planned a similar holiday for Stan's 60th birthday, but our kids wanted to come too --- the definitive plus for second marriages like ours is that the kids come on the honeymoon -- or part of it -- and the pattern is set!) On the plane my husband received the message that our oldest grandchild, age 7, was in an ambulance on route to a hospital, diagnosis type one diabetes. A plug for USAir: they got us on a plane to DC with luggage and through security in less than one hour.....My husband is a physician; he knew the horrors of this disease. I was ignorant, thinking that with insulin, all would be well. I have learned so much, all terrifying; and I had never realized how much of life revolves around food, and the hell this is for families with a diabetic child and their siblings, especially at holiday times and celebrations. I have no conflict about the necessity of stem cell research, never did...but now I really understand. I want every one with this insidious disease to wake up and not have to have needles and fear, and to have that hot fudge sundae and anything else their hearts desire......Since I see G-d as kind and compassionate, I cannot believe that an Almighty would not wish the same thing.

[anon004]

My husband has been a Type I diabetic since 1990, and we had our son through IVF, so I believe I have some understanding of this issue. What I don't understand is the ignorance of the people who would stop stem cell research in order to "save babies." So-called frozen embryos aren't that -- they are not sufficiently developed to be called an embyro yet. At the point they are frozen for possible later use they are usually no bigger than 8 cells. 8 cells! No differentiation into anything remotely resembling a human being has taken place yet (hence why they are valuable in this kind of research). At best, they are potential human beings, and one that will not be realized in many cases (IVF technology hardly guarantees a baby). It certainly will never happen without a woman's body being involved. (That may seem obvious, but, for some reason, people who oppose stem cell research and abortion seem to forget that a uterus and a willing woman is involved in growing any fertilized egg into a viable baby.) My husband and I were not able to freeze any of the pre-embryos that were generated by our IVF, and I felt no emotion whatsoever for those that didn't survive. I do worry about the effects of diabetes on my husband's long term health nearly every day. There is no moral conflict for me, just get this research going yesterday!