To the editor:
I am a miracle who attends St. Patrick’s and Blessed Trinity Parish, Owego. Thanks to the Grace of God I am alive due to an ADULT stem cell transplant.
I received an ADULT stem cell transplant from myself, but transplants can also be from donors. My core stem cells were induced to multiply and then were separated from the cancerous multiple myeloma cells in my bloodstream. The good cells were frozen and stored until after chemotherapy destroyed my immune system. The thawed cells were returned to my bloodstream and my immune system has been slowly regrowing.
ADULT stem cell and blood cord research holds great promise and versatility. ADULT stem cells are less prone to immune rejection and are plentiful in bone marrow, cord blood, organs and fat. Cases report successful use of these in treating diabetes, cancer, repairing heart tissue and bone, Parkinson’s, sickle cell anemia and others.
There is pressure to permit therapeutic cloning to harvest embryonic stem cells for medical research. Currently this involves creation of a five-day-old human embryo only to destroy it after harvesting its stem cells. In the future, what is to stop cloning of an eight-month-old child only to destroy it for its cells or organs. This is unnecessary and morally abhorrent.
Embryonic stem cells also are uncontrollable. Unlike ADULT stem cells, there are almost no reports of embryonic use in successful treatments. Embryonic research is not the “end of all ends” that people are being led to believe. ADULT stem cell and blood cord research respect life and dignity.
Carol Franz
Prospect Street
Owego
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