Growing Stems By Jack Schimmelman

A woman awaits the miracle of birth. Her breathing takes flight, her eyes widen inhaling an eternal landscape. She is mom and her genetic code paints a new portrait. Her baby arrives. The promise of her desire is fulfilled. She looks into that infants eyes and knows that something is wrong. She looks into her daughters heart as destiny leads love down an anonymous path. Doctors keep the infant in the hospital for nine months desperately trying to diagnose the problems that are evident. They tell you that you can put her in a home. This is best for you and your child. They have no answers and they cannot gaze into their mirror for they are ashamed of their inept stance. You take your baby home refusing to believe there is anything wrong for she is beautiful. As time stands still your baby does not develop. You finally accept that biology has failed. One day you are in the playground speaking to another parent who tells you that her child was born brain damaged and that her doctors could only stand with their arms at their side, mouths wide exhaling empty syllables. However, your newly minted friend tells you that she went outside the United States to have her baby treated with embryonic stem cells. Her baby miraculously began to recover her faculties and fast became a different child. You decide that stem cells are a desperate answer that fit your frantic wish to make your child whole. You fly to do the procedure and return home. You have committed an illegal act. Your baby begins to show signs of recovery. I have spoken to several parents with similar outcomes with their damaged and undiagnosed children. To some these words may sound like fantasy, but I present these paragraphs incognito because anyone who comes forward to speak publicly about a miraculous recovery regarding this new approach takes the chance of being threatened, even targeted by American fundamentalists. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of fear and hatred descends upon those who are brave enough to take a chance to help themselves or those they love with embryonic stem cell treatments. Science cautions desperate patients about the myriad of fraud that confronts those seeking stem cell treatments. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is one organization that tries to educate the public. They say that you must wait until science is certain of safety and benefits. Of course, watching your child die or being the one that is dying does not engender patience. Doctors often will discourage a patient seeking stem cells. The patient must disobey in order to control

their potential healing. After speaking with dozens of doctors, it is my experience that they usually know less than nothing regarding stem cell research and their present day uses. They routinely offer uninformed opinions. The hopelessly ill patient is left isolated and implicitly asked to die, rather than upend the accepted medical belief system or as it is commonly known in the medical community protocol. Although these three major currents, science, medicine and the patient may seem to advocate conflicting points of view, they actually work together to further knowledge of healing. In todays world of illness that drains our national spirit and treasure, a powerful undertow develops out of the pain and suffering of those who refuse to surrender. Mortality has its place if its not imminent. Most people are not talking about maintaining corporal shells within which they barely breathe, but rather they are yearning to redeem their biology. Their souls are still vibrant, dancing in the here and now and are not ready to depart this painful, jubilant, mysterious dance. I recently spoke to a man who had been diagnosed with end stage renal failure. He was on dialysis. He told me he went to China to get somatic (adult) stem cells. His kidneys, which were shriveled before he left, regained normal size within a week of his return to the United States. When he told his doctors about his journey, they refused to believe him and said it was a coincidence. To his credit that courageous man with whom I spoke was no longer interested in his doctors denial. Although well intentioned, doctors are the third leading cause of death in this country. Science, by necessity, is cautious. The aroused patient, awakened from a slumber, unearths the path as medicine does its best to keep the patient breathing within the confines of its protocol. Although conflicted, this theatre lifts its diaphanous grey curtain to reveal dazzling waves of hope. I believe if we are to embark upon soothing our universal wounds, we must discover our melodic soul. Our music will enlighten the dense forest in which we now wander. We need our hearts to listen. Stethoscopes need not apply.