Other than being spectacularly flat, my feet gave me no trouble for my first 72 years. True, when I stepped out of water, the tracks my feet left would be completely filled in — no arch. And the noise of my footfalls was “flop flop flop!”, like walking in swimfins. I was even told, when
No one can fully understand another person’s pain. Before my son’s accident, I thought people in a wheelchair just sat down a lot. I had no idea of the endless quiet agonies and frustrations they endure. But at least people notice the wheelchair — what if a person looked utterly healthy, young, slender, beautiful —
In the middle of the night, I was wakened by a soft “pop” inside my head, like the bursting of a bubble wrap. And the strangest thing — I could see the individual letters of the words of my thoughts, writing themselves. Like: I t-h-i-n-k s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g i-s w-r-o-n-g i-n-s-i-d-e m-y h-e-a-d… I poked Gloria beside me, and
Imagine a government program that attracts money, instead of just spending it… The California stem cell program does exactly that. Technically titled the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) the program has spent approximately $2.6 billion since its beginning. But from other sources, the program has brought in $1.9 billion — and more is almost certainly
Without Don Reed, the stem cell voice in California would not be what it is today. Don’s journey in stem cell advocacy began almost twenty years ago with California’s Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999- an initiative named after his son who was paralyzed in a football accident. Don later served on
When Dianne Keaton took her blouse off in the movie THE FAMILY STONE, I was quite happy for a second — a major movie star undressing? And then, in an instant, the mood changed. I jerked back in my theater seat, and made a soundless inward scream. Her breasts were gone. In their place was a short
If you visit the Chicago Air Museum (now called the Museum of Science and Industry) you can see the actual plane the Wright brothers flew, on the world’s first leap into the sky. It is an amazing museum, well worth your time and the sixteen-dollar admission fee. But one of the most interesting exhibits might
Forty-five years ago, when my daughter Desiree’ was about to be born, I was there in the delivery room, to support Gloria, and to greet our daughter into the world. I was not entirely sure what to expect. I had seen a medical movie about the birthing process, which struck me as unnecessarily graphic. Gloria
My cousin Michael lay on his back in the hospital bed. A tube ran from the top of his right foot down to a plastic bag of dark liquid. Mike has diabetes, and the circulation in his foot had been shutting down: the skin was turning black. Two days ago, the doctor used a marker
