By Don C. Reed
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is the embodiment of a great dream: that cures may come.
Built from a citizens’ initiative, Proposition 71, CIRM expresses the will of California: that regenerative medicine should fight chronic disease and disability.
One joyous victory was over Severe Combined Immune Deficiency, (SCID) as in the John Travolta movie, BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE. Tragically, the real-life boy behind that movie died. But thanks to CIRM-funded therapy, 50 children have now survived the disease. And the same therapy that helped “kids with SCID”, may one day defeat the agonizing blood disease, sickle cell anemia.
But we want more.
We want the blind to look at birds and see each feather; for those with hearing deficiencies to fully comprehend the conversation; for missing cartilage to be replaced inside arthritic joints; for damaged hearts to be repaired, like patching a bicycle tire. that CIRM-enhanced therapies may one day let cancer be “eaten” by the body’s own defense system. Mental illnesses, like Huntington’s disease or schizophrenia are being challenged right now, to fight that devastation. And paralysis, with which my brave son Roman has suffered 30 years? Thanks to stem cells, young men and women have regained upper body strength and control.
CIRM therapies will benefit patients in this lifetime, and on a permanent basis.
We treasure the memory of Prop 71, and Bob Klein, the man who began it. CIRM is his legacy, and ours: a living legacy, developing new therapies and cures; we honor CIRM’s struggle, its embattled past, gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures just to get on the ballot; earning the votes to pass and renew funding; following. as with in-held breath, the clinical trials going on right now, a glorious tomorrow our scientists are building, day by hard-work day.
To the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine: congratulations on your 20th anniversary. Millions may never know your name. But we do. On behalf of all who suffer now, yet live in hope: that cure may come. Thank you.