Summary

THE SENATE The Senate meets for 1 hour of morning business followed by the start of up to 20 hours of debate on 2 stem cell bills. 14:15:08.6 quorum call: a senator: mr. president? 14:17:31.9 the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. brownback: mr. president, i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brownback: mr. president, i rise to start the discussion on this side regarding stem cells, regarding the major hope 14:17:48.7 and promise of stem cells, stem cell research and adult stem cells, cord blood, amniotic fluid. and i want to start off with a story. 14:18:02.9 i want to start off with the story of a patient, david fahey, got a picture of him here. david fagey lives in florida. he suffered from end stages heart disease. he spaoefrpbsed short -- experienced shortness of breath, tiredness and inability to 14:18:21.4 concentrate in a normal fashion. over two years ago his cardiologist indicated that he should go to hospice, saying he had no other options. and i would be provided plenty of morphine to ease my way into a transitional state was the statement of his treating 14:18:38.4 physician. hospice does provide great service, but david learned about adult stem cell treatments through a company called theravite. when i saw david last year, he just returned from his first 14:18:51.4 stem cell treatment. he just returned from his second one a matter of weeks ago, just this week, and we got a progress report from him about this amazing work that's taking place, this therapy that's occurred with adult stem cells. listen to david's letter. 14:19:07.0 it's really impressive and it's very interesting. "i am one of seven people in the world who have experienced two stem cell therapies. susan and i have just returned from bangkok, thailand, after 45 days of adult stem cell cardiac treatment and rehabilitation, 14:19:23.1 the absolute cutting-edge of technology." one has to wonder why he's in bangkok for that. "utilization of my own stem cells reinjected into my heart allowed the reshaping and refunctioning of my heart from a life-threatening situation to a 14:19:40.5 nearly normal heart function today. my stem cell treatment last year, i went from a life expectancy of one day to 90 days to at least one year. the second stem cell treatment has jump-started me into a range of normal function. 14:19:55.9 i reasonably can expect a normal life expectancy which is approximately 10 to 15 more years. i can't tell you how great it is 14:20:04.8 to be back in the greatest country in the world, the united states of america. the whether is fabulous in florida," he writes. it is wonderful to sleep in my own soft bed. i am in awe of the creator who amazingly engineered us to have our own warranty toolbox with us 14:20:22.6 at all times -- our own stem cells. does not check out our politics, race, religion or gender. some of the diseases, in addition to heart diseases, which can be treated, in 2000, 2008 and 2009 are the following" 14:20:37.7 he's saying projected into the future, blindness, macular degeneration, diabetes, stroke and parkinson's disease, paralysis of any part of the body, including back, hand or legs, renal failure. he continues, "being one of the world's longest-living renal 14:20:55.6 transplant recipients of 23 years, i can't tell you how thrilled i am for others that they may not have to endure the hellish torture of renal failure. this reasonable treatment is in the immediate future. it is an absolutely wonderful time to be alive. 14:21:12.8 the only letter or designation i would like to have behind my name is david fogey, alive. there is a technology to soup up our cells, i would support 14:21:30.5 embryonic cells but they have 100% certain side effective growing tumors. our own adult stem cells do not. best wishes and great health be with you." this opens a revolutionary door 14:21:45.0 of opportunity to improve the quality of life like it has for me and cut the spiraling cost of health care in the u.s.a." he ends his letter this way. "on my way to costco without cane or wheelchair for 30 minutes shopping. 14:22:00.1 walk. i remain sincerely yours, david fogey, ph.d. and ahraoeufplt" -- and alive." that's a good way to start this discussion of these miraculous stem cells. they're beautiful. 14:22:15.4 they're working, and 72 different maladies. fogey has had treatments using two. the problem is he's had to go to bangkok, thailand, for both of 14:22:32.4 them, instead of the united states. adult stem cell therapies, no ethical problems, no ethical questions, his own stem cells. yet, he's had to travel to bangkok because we don't seem to have enough research funding to be able to support this sort of research into areas that are 14:22:49.0 giving cures, treatments, i want to say -- emphasize treatments, not cures -- to people, to give them an enthusiastic life, to give them a chance to live and to sign off. david fogey, ph.d., and alive. 14:23:07.3 and ahraoeufplt we've now found these amazing stem cells not only in cord blood, which thanks to my colleague from iowa, who worked with me and many others, we established cord blood 14:23:21.5 banking. and we're now -- and i just checked these numbers before we came over here -- at the end of 2006 there had been 10,000 cord blood transplants to unrelated donors. got those numbers from the new york blood center, which was responsible for 2,500 of those 14:23:37.2 units. that's 10,000 people probably alive that wouldn't be, maybe some in other ways and shapes. but still it's taking place. we now need to bank amniotic fluid. we just found in recent research, i want to show this 14:23:53.4 chart as well. some of my colleagues may have missed this. this came out in jama, february 28, 2007. stem cells obtained from amniotic fluid. this is the fluid surrounding the child in the womb. amniotic fluid derived stem 14:24:12.0 cells can be coaxed to become muscle, bone, fat, blood, vessel, nerve and liver cells. amniotic flood cells, stem cells might be capable of repairing damaged tissues resulting from conditions such as diabetes, 14:24:30.8 alzheimer's disease and stroke. i would hope one of the next effort we take on in banking, is banking amniotic fluid that's been traditionally thrown away. it may hold the promise of incredible cures t.'s a great source of stem cells, very 14:24:47.7 malleable. the pluripotent stem cells that are taking place that are in this as well. that may be another one we can join together. there's much news to celebrate on the stem cell front. this being one, and the placenta, i believe, they are 14:25:01.7 finding a rich source of these 14:25:06.2 pluripotent, malleable stem cells as well, another throw-away, if you will. that is an area that we're going to be able to find and probably use more and more into the future for these very malleable pluripotent stem cells that we 14:25:20.6 can create -- not create, but use for additional amazing cures. i want to recognize the work of my colleagues who are on the other side of this debate: senator specter from pennsylvania, senator harkin 14:25:36.8 from iowa. many others have pushed for a long time in these areas, and many good has happened. in the cord blood banking, that's gone very well. the adult stem cell research, that work has gone fabulously, as i just read in this opening story of a gentleman just back 14:25:55.0 from bangkok, although he wished these treatments were taking place in the united states rather than in thailand. much good has happened. we have two major barriers. the first one, i believe, to be an insurmountable barrier. and that first one being what is 14:26:13.7 the human embryo. if it is a person, as we've discussed many times, then it's entitled to human dignity and should be treated in a dignified fashion and not researched or taxpayer dollars used to 14:26:27.7 research and destroy it. if it's property, it can be done with as its master chooses. we've discussed and debated this many, many times. obviously here the effort would be to treat the youngest of human beings as property, to be researched on, to be destroyed 14:26:46.1 with the use of federal taxpayer dollars. and yet, if you follow that debate on forward, at what point in time does the human embryo then become a person? because we know if you allow it to grow, at some point and time under everybody's definition, it 14:27:03.3 becomes a person entitled to protection and human dignity. yet, we're saying here, at the earliest phases we are going to treat it as property and with federal taxpayer dollars we are going to pay to destroy it and to research on it. and that is the obstacle that 14:27:20.5 cannot be overcome. because we believe in human dignity. we believe as a society in human dignity. and so our debate which we've had multiple sets of time, sets of different debates on this 14:27:36.5 here, continues today. the central question will be: will we sanction the destruction of nascent human life with federal taxpayer dollars? that's the central issue. will we divert taxpayer dollars from adult stem cell research, which is working, in the case of 14:27:53.4 dr. david fogey and send these dollars to fund speculative research that likely will never produce any patient treatments? that's the second question with it. i mentioned the first to be an insurmountable one. 14:28:06.1 the second one, i think, is one of wisdom. should we be funding something that is working or should we be speculating on something that is not and is producing indeed tumors? and i will back that up with a number of research papers. 14:28:21.3 these are the two central questions. these are the two questions we'll be debating throughout this period of time. i doubt that there is much surprise left on the vote, on how the votes will take place. it is an important debate. it does frame much of what we move forward with in this 14:28:37.4 country and in places around the world. but these are the two central questions. will we sanction the destruction of nascent human life with federal taxpayer dollars? will we divert taxpayer dollars from adult stem cell research which is working and send these 14:28:53.7 dollars to fund speculative research that likely will never produce any patient treatments? central to this debate is the issue of how we treat our fellow man. we would all agree, i hope, that individuals should be treated 14:29:09.5 with respect. we would agree that we should avoid prejudices. we would agree that each individual has an inalienable right to life. my colleagues, my colleague from iowa, myself, the presiding officer, those around, those 14:29:25.7 watching, would all agree that we each have an inalienable right to life, to live. we all hold thu for the new burn -- hold this through the newborn for the eldest members of our 14:29:43.6 society. but when does that life begin, a question that has vexed this body for some period of time. does it begin at birth? does it begin before birth? when? biology tells us that life begins much earlier than birth. 14:29:59.7 and here i want to read from an 14:30:04.4 human embryology textbook. it says this -- quote -- "although life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because under ordinary circumstances a new genetically distinct human 14:30:20.4 organism is thereby formed."n such definitions are helpful in clarifying that human life does begin at the embryonic phase. indeed, myself and my colleague from iowa and the presiding 14:30:36.6 officer began at the embryonic phase whether the embryo comes the old fashioned way, or as a product of various scientific methods, supplement as scnt human cloning. with the scientific fact in hand we evaluate the facts in light 14:30:52.4 of our ethical framework. for instance, we know the human embryo is a human life. then, the question is, how should we treat it? human life has immeasurable value. 14:31:05.9 from the youngest to the oldest human beings are ends in themselves. it is wrong to use any human as a means to an en. any time throughout human history when we have done otherwise we have regretd it. -- regretted it. 14:31:23.5 our value as people is intrinsic. i might say, i am a pro life my whole life. i believe all life is sacred. beautiful. unique. from a loving god frrks 14:31:38.8 beginning to end, it is true here, it is true in the womb, true of the child in darfur, true of the lady in poverty. it simply is true. yes, we want to help people and treat people who have medical conditions. but we must not trample upon any human to achieve such an end. 14:31:58.1 this is because human beings are distinct and unique amongst all creation. i would note here, ronald reagan 14:32:13.6 had a very folksy way of defining whether there was human life and whether it should be protected in his 1983 essay on abortion and the conscience of a nation. he put it in a very common sense 14:32:28.8 way: "anyone who doesn't feel sure whether we are talking about a second human life should clearly give life the benefit of the doubt. if you don't know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it." i think this consideration 14:32:44.7 should be enough for all of us to insist on protecting the unborn. another common sense folksy way but it hits the point. will we do what is ethical with respect to the fellow man? that is a central question of this debate. 14:32:59.8 during this debate some will argue we should proceed with ethical embryonic stem cell research and i distinguish between broke and the unquestionably ethical alternatives which we can talk about with respect to embryonic stem cell research, though, 14:33:17.2 embodied in the guidelines of the stem cell research enhancement act, s. 5, how is it possible to ethically do something that is completely unethical? destroy another human life, innocent human life for research 14:33:35.5 purposes? arguments that the bill provide ethical guidelines, though well ended are misplaced. the ethics of s. 5 have nothing to do with protecting innocent life from destruction. they will fund with taxpayer 14:33:50.1 dollars, the destruction of innocent human life. the ethics of s. 5 have to do with the process of how you donate young human embryos for destruction. mr. president, we have had this debate before. we had it on the floor on this 14:34:05.8 issue. we have had it before regarding other issues. we had it with the fetal tissue research from abortions. here i take the body back to 1991, a coalition for research freedom in a letter signed by 14:34:21.3 prominent patient advocacy groups advocating embryonic stem cell research today, were advocating fetal tissue research in 1991. they wrote this: "fetal tissue transplantation research is widely recognized as one of the 14:34:36.6 most promising research avenues for such disease and debill -- disabilities as parkinson's, alzheimer, diabetes, leukemia, spinal cord injuries and many other chronic health 14:34:52.9 conditions." doesn't that sound familiar? congress, responding to the emotional outcry with 14:35:01.2 legislation to provide funding for unethical research, research that can only take place with the trampling of the rights of a fellow human. that was 1991. those were the promises. that was the move forward by this body. 14:35:19.9 that was pushed on forward. we know what happened. it was on the front page of "the new york times" in 2001. a new stove -- the news story began: carefully controlled study that striked to treat parkinson's disease by implanting cells from aborted 14:35:38.1 fetuses failed to show a benefit but also revealed a disastrous side effect scientists report. in 15% of patients, the cells grew too well. churning out so much of a chemical that controls movement 14:35:52.3 that the patients jerked uncontrollably." the story continues: "they chew constantly. their fingers go up and down, wrists flex and the patients writhe and twist, jerk their 14:36:09.0 heads and fling their arms about." "it was tragic, catastrophic," a real nightmare and we can't selectively turn it off. a man was so badly affected -- (inaudible) 14:36:47.3 (inaudible) 14:36:55.5 mr. president, the pattern 14:37:40.5 repeats itself. a double tragedy. human life is destroyed. second, the patient will likely be harmed. there remain no embryonic human treatments or applications despite 25 years of models and a 14:37:58.0 decade of work of human embryonic stem cells. let me repeat that: 25 years of embryonic work in animal models there are no human treatments and a decade of work with human embryonic stem cells, no 14:38:13.0 treatments. what we have learned about embryonic stem cells they are good at forming tumors. scientific literature abounds with such stories. an example is published last year, early diabetes. 14:38:31.6 you can find the expression of the demonstration when the cells are differentiated between tumors and this is just one example. 14:38:47.7 i point this out because this was the same result we saw taking place with fetal tissue research. it was that tumors were formed. that's what took place. >> and several of the articles, 14:39:15.3 now, are push accomplished articles on the formation of tumors by embryonic stem cells. i note in this one on the insulin g's and this was in the publication "stem cells" 14:39:31.8 published august 2, 2006. and another one, published in july, on the 24th of 2006 -- excuse me, april 6th of 2006. and they still noted there, as 14:39:48.3 well, the potential for teratoma development in the stem cells after prolonged differentiation and in that there are a series of articles, here, including a 14:40:03.6 neuro chemical 2006 june, and they were noting frequent tumor-related deaths in transplanted animals taking place in that one. and here's one, stem cells of 14:40:18.7 june 2006, and they note that grass grafted with human embryonic stills predifferentiated in vitro developed severe purports -- tumors. 14:40:33.3 the literature is full of that word. these are developing tumors. i note that in stem cells, a publication of june 2006, 70% of mice, they derived the cells and 14:41:01.6 they developed tumors, 70% of them. i have a series of these publications, all noting that the stem cell therapy in animals produced tumors. strange. 14:41:15.7 that's what we found took lace in fetal tissue research when we were dealing with an older set of cells that were developed. now when we back it up to a younger set of stem cells or cells that we wr using, we see -- that we are using, we see the same feature, forming 14:41:37.9 teratomas, or tumors. in some cases almost every circumstance. that is what we found them. we fine the same thing now. very consistent on the research. i had, for anyone interested, 17 14:41:54.3 different examples of the formation of teratomas by embryonic stem cell work in laboratory animals. mr. president, let us not go down the road of unethical 14:42:08.5 speculative research. i am sure the research is interesting but the government needs to pursue what is best for americans suffering from disease and injuries. that's what our standard should be. we have an enormous ethical hurdle of killing young human life for this research purpose, 14:42:23.5 and we have an area that needs more funding in the adult stem cell cord blood, amniotic fluid and that money is diverted to other place -- and that money is diverted to other places. and now let's move from the ethical to the practical 14:42:39.3 question: should we put millions or billions of dollars into interesting speculative research on tumor-forming embryonic stem cells or should we put our money where we are already getting strong results with adult stem cell work, cord blood, amniotic fluid and other areas where there is no ethical 14:42:57.6 problem? adult stem cells have no ethical strines attached. you can get them from an adult patient without causing harm, you can harvest them from the rich cord blood, and as noted in the journal of american medical association of march 7 of 24 year they can be obtained from 14:43:13.4 amniotic fluid without causing harm to the unborn child. defying the naysayers which many said this could or would not work, there are now many confirmed adult pluripotent stem cells, pluripotent cells can 14:43:28.1 form a number of different type of cell tripes previously thought to only exist in embryos can turn into any cell in the body. here, i want to show first, a chart of the areas that were having treatments taking place 14:43:46.8 by adult stem cell therapy. i want to hold this up. i don't think this is a complete set of areas but 72 current human -- in humans -- clinical applications using adult stem cells. 14:44:01.3 blood conditions, auto emmiewp, bladder disease, cancer, cardiovascular, liver disease, neuro degenerative, wounds and injuries, ocul ax r -- occular, you can see the list of 72 14:44:19.2 different areas treated with adult stem cells. in humans, in human trials, and i will hold this up for my colleagues and will provide this no any offices that would like, an inch thick binder "new reasons for hope -- recent developments published since 14:44:36.3 congress stem cell debate and vote of 2006 and the adult stem cell research and other alternatives to embryonic stem cell work and research. this is from june of 2006 to march of 2007. here are the number of additional areas that we have gotten successful work taking 14:44:55.2 place in each of those. i want to though this as the 14:45:01.1 folder, a fold are i have shown before. this is recent advances in adult stem cell research and other alternatives to cloning and embryonic stem cell research, a binder 4" thick, full of the front pages, just the first pages, of the research if these 14:45:16.8 fields of what's taking place, that needs to be more. there needs to be more taking place to get more of the cures, to get more people like david fagey treated.n i would point out as well if people want 14:45:32.4 to go to the web site of clinicaltrials.gov and pull up the latest trials and studies of places that are recruiting patients or are filled and no longer recruiting. it pulls up 1,422 studies currently ongoing. 14:45:48.8 this is the first of 50 pages from clinicaltrial.government of the various -- clinicaltrial.gov of the clinical uses and trials of adult stem cell that are going on right now. let's look at the money chart on this. 14:46:04.4 and i want to note for my colleagues, there presently is no prohibition against anybody developing new embryonic stem cell lines legally. i mean, if a group, a private group, if a state wants to develop a new embryonic stem cell line, they can. 14:46:21.2 the limitation is on federal taxpayer dollars of use of those in research areas on newly established embryonic stem cell lines. but if a private group wants to develop an embryonic stem cell line, if a states want to develop an embryonic stem cell 14:46:37.1 research -- embryonic stem cell line, they can do that, they can do that now. let's look at the funding that's going on to embryonic stem cell research, both human and nonhuman. in fy 2006, the last year that we have full data for, human embryonic stem cell research, 14:46:53.6 $37.8 million, nonhuman embryonic stem cell research, $110.4 million. from 2002-2006, human embryonic stem cell research, $132 million. nonhuman, $481 million. total, $613.79 million in embryonic stem cell research. 14:47:12.2 $613.9 million. we're putting in a lot of money into embryonic stem cell research and still the scoreboard on this of where we're getting humans treated after $613.9 million, stem cell research, human applications, 14:47:28.0 adult, we have 72 treatment areas. with binders full of information, with 1,422 study trials. we have zero on the embryonic, after 25 years of knowing about this, of ten years of knowing 14:47:43.6 about it in humans. and after $613 million of funding. now, after some period of time, shouldn't we say and think that wouldn't it be better if dr. david fahey is being treated 14:48:00.8 in the united states instead of thailand and we had more of that work that's getting him treated taking place here rather than in other places around the world? and wouldn't it be better to take the $613 million that can yield more of this, of treatments, if that's what we're 14:48:16.5 after -- if we're after treatments -- wouldn't it be better to take that $613 million and say, let's put more in adult research, adult stem cell research, where it's yielding results? doesn't that just make sense? isn't that the right thing to do? 14:48:33.0 where we have all of this that's producing results. and after 25 years, we don't have anything here. that's not fair to say. i'm sure we have a number of interesting research information that's come up through that 14:48:51.7 research of that $613 million. i'm sure there is -- has been useful research that involves the destruction of a young human life. i want to note, before people 14:49:17.2 watching this think okay, you've got a cure for me in the adult stem cell area, i want to make sure i put forward that many of these are in clinical trials today. not all of these are widely available yet. however, there has been success in all of these areas using adult stem cells. for some of these treatments, 14:49:32.7 adult stem cells were the main component. in others, adult stem cells were the part that helped the main component to work. all of these are real and legitimate. on the eve of last summer's bioethical debate, some scientists took it upon themselves to criticize this list by publishing a letter in 14:49:50.0 "the journal of science." in january of this year, "science" published the response to this initial letter and it reads in part, and i want to put 14:49:57.8 this forward because i think it's important that we put forward here the context of the adult stem cell treatment that has yielded so many human treatments today. but i want to make sure to put this -- this context forward. in their letter adult stem cell 14:50:14.2 treatments for diseases -- i'm quoting from this letter in "science," -- "s. smith eta.l. claim we misrepresented a list of treatments benefiting patients but it is the letter's author who represent our and the published literature dismissing 14:50:30.3 the many scientists and patients who have shown the benefits of stem cells. we have stated that adult stem cell applications have helped, benefited and improved patient conditions. smith et al. repeatedly notes patient improvement from these cells. so they agreed. 14:50:45.2 we've never stated that these treatments are generally available, cures or fully tested in all required phases of clinical trials and approved by the u.s. food and drug administration. some studies do not require prior f.d.a. approval. and even the nine supposedly fully approved treatments acknowledged by smith e tal. 14:51:03.0 would not be considered cures or generally available to the public at this stage of research. insist theans no benefit is real -- insistence that no benefit is real until after f.d.a. approval is misplaced. such approval is not a medical standard to evaluate patient benefit but an's determination 14:51:18.9 that benefits outweigh risks in a broad class of patients. patients use an evidentiary standard. our list of 72 applications is come piled from peer-reviewed articles -- compiled from peer-reviewed articles" -- 14:51:32.9 that's part of what i just showed people in the binder -- "documents observable and measurable benefit to patients, a necessary step towards formal f.d.a. approval, and what is expected of new, cutting-edge medical applications." end of quote from that letter. as this debate moves forward, i look forward to sharing the 14:51:50.2 stories of some of the real patients who've benefited from ethical adult stem cell research. and i want to note, we need more patients treated. we have more patients that need treatment. we have an area of high yield of federal dollar investment of 14:52:05.5 where it should go, and we don't have the ethical barriers and we should be putting that money there. 72-0. that's the score. there are at least 72 human treatments and applications using adult stem cells. there are no human treatments 14:52:21.7 with embryonic stem cells and with the rate of tumor formation, which i previously noted, none seem to be on the horizon. this is acknowledged by some scientists. notably, "science" carried a piece in 2005 which the authors note -- quote -- "the clinical 14:52:38.2 benefits of the research are years or maybe decades away. this is a message that desperate families and patients will not want to hear." and yet we do have a message that desperate families and patients do want to hear and that is that we have treatments 14:52:53.7 on the horizon and we do in the adult and cord blood and amniotic fluid. we need the research money to do it. a harvard stem cell research, david shiwitz wrote in a 2005 14:53:11.1 "washington post" op-ed -- quote -- "while stem cell advocates have helped voters connect embryonic stem cell research with compelling images of patients who might one day benefit from treatment, such therapies are unlikely to emerge soon enough to benefit most 14:53:25.3 current proponents. scientists must do a better job of articulating the limitations of our existing knowledge, taking care to emphasize not only the ultimate therapeutic potential of these cells but also how far we are from achieving such therapies. which road will we choose? 14:53:44.1 will we choose the ethical adult stem cell road that both holds great promise and is currently producing treatments? or will we choose the unethical embryonic stem cell road that tramples on human dignity and has produced tumors to date? 14:54:06.9 that is the point of the discussion. mr. president, this is not just an academic discussion nor is it just a policy discussion. it's involving real people. 14:54:18.5 i showed you one person that was a real person. i started off with talking about david fagey who is excited about being alive. let me show you another one, jackie rabone. a paraplegic. i met jackie last year. 14:54:35.1 she's continued to improve. i want to share her story with you. she lives in central illinois. she had come to d.c. last year with her mother and sister because she wanted to tout her successful adult stem cell treatment. the courage of jackie and many 14:54:49.4 others like her truly is amazing. three years earlier as an active 16-year-old, she was paralyzed in an automobile accident. 14:54:58.5 as the car was flipping multiple times, jackie was thrown from the vehicle and landed on her back on a country road. her dreams of earning a volleyball scholarship to college were shattered. in a letter sent to me last 14:55:11.9 year, jackie wrote this: "that day changed my outlook. my future aspirations and my complete life. before the accident, i was a very active 16-year-old. i played volleyball in school and was very good. i had hopes of going to college on a volleyball scholarship. 14:55:28.7 i truly was living a nightmare after this tragedy. i really thought my life was over. i couldn't imagine not playing volleyball anymore, jumping on my trampoline with my young nephew, chasing after my niece or just taking a walk around my small community. 14:55:44.1 not only does something like this change the victim but it also disrupts and seriously affects your family. i spent a little over a month in the hospital. i had back surgery to stabilize my back. i had a fracture of the t-12 area which made me a paraplegic. i have no feeling below the 14:56:00.9 belly button. hi to learn to become independent again. i had to lesh to dress, eat, transfer from place to place -- learn to dress, eat, transfer from place to place and take care of my personal hygiene and toiletry issues. it was very difficult and i struggled with these once simple task. 14:56:15.8 after i accomplished these, i was released and allowed to come home. i would simply told, 'you'll never walk again.' that was my prognosis." she continues, "i got back to school a few months later and that was another adjustment. everything looks and works differently when you're sitting in a wheelchair. 14:56:31.3 hi to deal with a lot of depression and sadness. but i tried to continue with my life the best way that i could. i truly believe that my faith got me through. if it wasn't for this amazing love of god and my strong will and determination, i don't know if i could have proceeded with 14:56:46.9 what my life had become. but i have great determination along with the comforting faith. i didn't intend on giving up that easily. i wanted to give life another opportunity with my new lifestyle." mr. president, can you imagine 14:57:02.3 the anguish of being a 16-year-old, your whole life in front of you and then being confronted that sort of tragedy? jackie was very fortunate, however. blessed to have so many people who were looking out for her. her pastor saw a pbs show called 14:57:20.1 "the miracle cell" about a procedure called olefactory few coases transplantation being done in portugal by dr. carlos lima. portugal. the work involved transplanting adult stem cells from spinal 14:57:33.2 cord patients' own sinus area into their spinal cord at the initial injury sight. this gave jackie real hope. continuing her letter, she wrote this: "i listened to amazing recovery of returned sensation, even the ability to walk again with continued rehab from others 14:57:49.7 having this surgery. i remember thinking, that's my chance. i knew i wanted to pursue this possibility for me. my mom and i started researching this procedure on the internet and collected as much information as we could. we discovered a spinal cord injury institute getting ready to open in detroit, michigan, that summer. 14:58:05.7 this institute was closely associated with dr. lima. we called to see if we could get an appointment to go and meet dr. steve hinderer and ask about the procedure in-depth and inquire about my chances of getting it done. i did go to detroit and was told that i could well be a good candidate. 14:58:21.2 i was given the guidelines and criteria for having this done. after many months of additional testing, x-rays, et cetera, i was accepted. this was very exhilarating for me. i had read about the success stories of the individuals that had gone before me. their various success stories gave me so much hope. 14:58:38.1 i had so much support from my family, friends, church, community and surrounding areas to raise the $50,000 needed to have this surgery. without this overwhelming support, i could not have gone forward with this incredible opportunity. i went to portugal in october 2005." 14:58:56.0 again, portugal and not the united states, for this adult stem cell therapy. "i had the procedure done on october 29. my experience in portugal was not all pleasant. my mom and hi to deal with with the language barrier and the unfamiliar culture. i returned to the states on 14:59:09.8 november 5. i rested at home for a few weeks, then went to detroit to the institute for aggressive rehabilitation. rehab was very tiring and indeed very congresssive. it was an exhausting experience but a very rewarding one. it was there that i took my first steps on the parallel bars. 14:59:26.8 i was up. my progress since undergoing the surgery has been amazing. i have a lot of hip movement, some tingling and heffiness in my legs. i have continued with my rehab regime at home. i have leg braces that were for 14:59:43.7 it me. i can walk on parallel bars and i began walking with a walker. i am up and on my feet again. that's the most satisfying feeling. unless you've been confined in a 14:59:57.6 wheelchair for an extended amount of time, you can't really know how rewarding it is to be standing again. this brings me to the ongoing debate over adult stem cell research. i did not think a lot about this issue before the accident, but