I highly recommend Revolutionary Therapies as a well-written and engaging book on the critical importance of stem cell therapies.
Stem cell therapy advocate Don Reed has written another fascinating book on stem cell therapies and their importance in saving lives. The importance of this book is his message about the California citizen’s initiative to renew the funding for CIRM (the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine). The funding renewal bond measure would be on the November 2020 California ballot.
Don writes in very short easy to read chapters, each on an aspect of stem cell research, activity, needs, research, accomplishments, and successes of stem cell therapies. He uses stories and anecdotes of researchers and patients, and tells how these revolutionary stem cell therapies have saved lives, and how they are less costly than the medical costs for the various treatments over the years.
CIRM has funded research grants for stem cell therapy since it was established by Proposition 71, and allowed to begin in 2007 after defeating lawsuits. However, CIRM is now running out of money for these critical grants and needs refunding. Each story that Don tells supports the need for renewing the funding for CIRM to save lives. Don includes a chapter for what patient advocates can do. Note how and why the author has 71 chapters in each of his books.
Don writes as a well-informed layperson and patient advocate, and reminds us that he is not a scientist. However he is an excellent teacher, and his message resonates with the need to support CIRM and its continued funding. I served as a public librarian in the city where Don worked, and appreciated his readable approach to a difficult and challenging subject. It was easy to recommend his titles to a library user looking for information on stem cell research and medical care.
Don has devoted his life to stem cell research and therapy since his son Roman was paralyzed in a football accident in 1994. He is known as the “grandfather of stem cell research advocacy.”
Submitted by Sandi Pantages (April 20, 2020)