Stem Cell Implantation Equals Delivering Essentially Acquired Treatment to Promote Healing Not DEATH

By: Ashley Gagne

“You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person I’ll guarantee you’ll win,” (Patch Adams). In the health care system it seems as if people are more focused on not stepping over the boundaries then they are on treating their patients, and by doing so are limiting the healing factor their patients can achieve. Instead of merely focusing on what the patient needs or what the best possible treatments are for them, they rather infer to the ethics of the situation. I ask you something, is it ethical to refuse to give treatment that has a high chance of curing someone merely because of all the other twists and turns surrounding the legality of the subject matter? It is in my eyes unethical to allow a treatment to be ignored because of how a certain group of people feel on the matter. I am not saying that having a strong belief in something is wrong, but then why is it wrong for people to have a strong belief in the matter to see it pass and become apart of the health care system? To me there are a few horrible things in life that no one should have to bare or go through. No child should ever have cancer, a life-long disease with no cure, or a malfunctioning heart. And no one should ever have to go through life with a disease that is harming their body and inevitably affecting the time they have on this earth especially when there is outlet of hope, a possible cure, and a possible end to the genetic disease. This is why focus needs to be put only on the patient that way the idea of killing another can be put aside and instead viewed as a life helping another to live to the fullest. Death is just a beginning of something even more beautiful and what is better than a death that helps another live?

Stem cell research has been highly debated because it involves the process of using cells derived from embryonic tissues causing some to feel as though a potential life is being killed for the survival of another, making people feel that it is unethical and wrong. Stem cell research is in no way a death treatment. It does not kill potential lives it allows others to live to their full potential. It is unethical to force parents to give their newborn baby an insulin shot up to four times a day. That means that this child by the age of 10 with have had 14600 shots instilled in their body not including mandated shots by their pediatrician. As a little baby there are limited spots on the body into which a shot could be given which inevitably increasing the pain factor and the possibility of developing fat deposits at a young age because of the numerous inflictions. Yes these insulin shots allow the baby to live but at the same time what kind of life are they living. They will never enjoy being able to go to a slumber party and not worry about doing a shot at supper time and not eating too much sugar and remember to do a finger pick and shot before bed. It will prevent them from having that independence to try new things and not worry about spending the night at their friend’s house because their blood sugar goes hypoglycemic at night. A life is still a life and as a Type One diabetic I realize this but I also cannot get over the fact that the answer to a cure is right there is a hand reach away but people are not willing to extend that hand and grasp the possibility to end diabetes and other and much worse diseases. I did not ask for diabetes but I accepted it and made it part of my life, but at the same time why should I feel guilty for wanting it out of my life for good.

The disease is of course bearable and by no means limits your life as other atrocious diseases can, but the last thing I want is my brother further down the road to find out that he also has the disease for each case of diabetes is different for other people and with that variability comes different degrees of risks and seriousness. Overall my case has been tolerable but what about for those people who have to constantly check their blood sugar and give themselves shots of insulin just to keep their blood sugar at the high end of their blood sugar range? Should their lifespan be limited merely because they have a disease that has treatment measures even though the treatment measures don’t control their levels? Why limit this generation and the future from a life without disease? If we knock out that factor there will be less for doctors and researchers to focus on which may also open the door to further discoveries in cancer and its overall prevention as well as its cure. Following the mentality of Patch Adams who states that as a doctor “Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death,” I say that it is not just up to doctors but it is up to us to help others improve their life and not just mask their upcoming death. There is nothing wrong with death, but there is a problem with a short lived life and a life filled with medicines and no experiences. The research answers are out there and new studies have found even more intrinsic answers to these heated questions of stem cells so why let one factor of ethics out weigh the massive potential to heal and resolve an increasing problem in the United States. Stop being selfish and look passed using cells as killing a person. You are slowly but surely killing us by ignoring the chance to find a cure because of your ethical standpoints. Progress has been made but it is limited because of how the topic is viewed in society. Please allow our children to live free of needles and free of lifelong problems associated with the genetic disease. It has now been found that Type One diabetes is caused by the immune system attacking the beta cells in the pancreas that produces the insulin which is dispersed by the pancreas causing the body to lack the amount sufficient to promote the metabolism of sugars from the food we eat. From this breakthrough a study has been completed which showed that maternal beta cells can replace the beta cells killed off in a diabetic person allowing new healthy cells to grow and remain stable and thus reduce or completely end the need for an outside source of insulin (Mother’s Stem Cell Passed to Baby - Suggests Possible Way to Treat Diabetes, NIH). So why end these discoveries because of the fear of killing a new life? Instead of viewing the issue in that manner see it as using the resources of a life that may have never gotten the chance to start to do things that no living person could ever accomplish and from these miraculous treatments change the course of the medical future and millions of lives around the world. People all around the world give their lives every day for this country and for things they believe in so why do we have to make this issue a war in order for others to see that lives are only being healed in this issue not risked.

~ Data was taken from the Stem Cell Information Website: http://stemcells.nih.gov

HPV Shot? Why in the World Not?

“But Moooooom I hate shots and I don’t plan on having sex- I’m only thirteen. What kind of person do you think I am!” My daughter, Isabella, was screaming and protesting, obviously insulted. Ah, to be that young and naïve again I thought to myself as I pointed toward the door and told her we were going whether she wanted to or not. It’s never easy talking to your young children about sex and all of the good and evil that can come of it. Some are more accepting than others, but my daughter is very strong-willed and quite stubborn. I imagine she gets somewhat of a kick out of fighting me about this and everything else but how could I blame her when I was exactly the same way when I was her age. In fact, I still apologize to my mother. A good parent wants nothing but the absolute best for their child and will do anything to protect them no matter what but there are never any guarantees that your child will be safe all the time and won’t make poor decisions. Their innocence cannot be preserved because children can’t be protected from life. However, I will do whatever I can to preserve her health and offer her all of the information she needs to make good decisions on her own when she is older and will be facing issues of sexuality and peer pressure and substance use head on. I would never send her into battle alone.
Now, as a thirteen year old girl, she understands the basics of sex but doesn’t consider all of the strains of diseases and ways of getting pregnant and the personal and medical decisions that must be made and the life one has to lead when living with a disease or a being a teenager with a baby. There are so many long-term, branching consequences to a brief sexual interaction. I couldn’t imagine her being pregnant as a teenager- she would have to drop out of school and I’d have to support them until she figured out how. Either way it would be a struggle for her to get ahead and finish school and go to college to be able to earn a decent living. Or if she contracted a disease that could cause cervical cancer or genital warts that will greatly inhibit her chances of a healthy marriage and family and a career in healthcare, in case she became interested. If I can prevent all of these things for her with a series of three simple shots over a six-month period you better believe that we got into the car and headed for her pediatrician’s office. There are so many sexually transmitted infections- why not immunize our children with the vaccines we do have? Because it’s unnatural? Because parents don’t believe in them? Avoiding having to talk to children, particularly girls, about sex or making them think it’s now safe to be sexually active? Religious beliefs? I repect religious practices but being religious will not protect or cure anything contracted from unsafe sex. Since HPV is one of many diseases, information is key in maintaining health and being honest with children about what consequences of unsafe sex are out there because abstinenence is obviously not practiced by the majority. This is a global problem- there are epidemics across the world- HIV is a prime example and our children need to know that. Sexually transmitted infections ruin millions of lives, causing terrible disease, a lifetime of medical care and death and our children need to know that.
The shot is said to last five years and a booster may be needed but the critical thing to remember is that it’s effective. I will not be able to monitor her every action or chaperone the parties she attends or sit inbetween her and her (future) boyfriend on the couch. But I can do everything in my power to inform and protect her and HPV is a serious disease with many strains and scores of brutal consequences. I know she may resist and resent me now but I know she will come to see that it is out of pure, unconditional love that I make sure that she is fully immunized. It can be a dangerous world and we must watch over our children in every and any way that we can- it’s our duty and responsibility as loving and concerned parents. With making the decision to have my child be given the HPV vaccine, I truly believe that the positives outweigh the negatives.