¦ July 29, 2006
To paralyzed former racer, Bush's stroke of pen is a veto of hope
Column by Ed Graney, Las Vegal Review-Journal

July 29, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Sam Schmidt thinks as he sits in the fastest powered wheelchair around. He’d be disappointed if it wasn’t, because when you have driven a race car 230 mph in the Indy 500, the thought of another paraplegic getting from the kitchen to the living room at a swifter pace could make you loopy.

It’s too bad Schmidt’s chair can’t zoom its way to all those storage tanks at all those fertility clinics holding all those embryos. He would find much better use for them than throwing them in a garbage can.

“It’s very difficult sitting in a chair and not being biased,” Schmidt said. “My faith and my family gets me up every morning, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t get depressed and I don’t think this is a really crappy way to live. But with this type of injury, the only thing that is for sure is that if you have a bad attitude and don’t think you can recover, you won’t. On the other side of the fence, the sky is the limit.”

On the other side of the fence is the kind of expanded federally funded embryonic stem cell research that could save thousands of lives and help people like Schmidt walk again. The tragic part is, the other side of the fence might as well be Ghana.

The journey of those who believe stem cell research represents the best chance at discovering cures for a lengthy list of diseases and conditions was again delayed recently when President Bush vetoed the bill that would increase federal funding.

When Bush chose to ignore the wishes of six in every 10 Americans and 63 “yes” votes in the Senate. When he extolled the sanctity of human life while refusing to embrace the extraordinary advancements in biomedical science. When he successfully linked the same sides of church and state that the U.S. Constitution demands be separated.

When he made a terrible mistake with one stroke of a pen.

Schmidt heard the news and didn’t blink, incredibly dejected and yet not the least bit stunned. He is the Henderson resident and former Indy Racing League driver injured during a practice session in January 2000, paralyzed from the chest down and damaged so severely that doctors said he would be on a ventilator the remainder of his life and suggested his wife place him in a nursing home.

He was off a ventilator five weeks later, breathes on his own and hasn’t returned to the hospital since leaving it six years ago. He is one of several disabled celebrity advocates in pursuit of greater stem cell research, following the lead set for years by the late actor Christopher Reeve.

“We had all been riding his coattails and letting him do all the work,” Schmidt said. “It made me realize that if I’m going to have an influence, I have to step up and do whatever is needed. This disorder can kill you. It killed Superman. Nobody can ever fill his shoes, but maybe (several) of us can combine to do it.”

So his mission is twofold: At the federal level, he has visited Washington and pounded on the office doors of senators in hopes of earning their support for the funding legislation. At the grass-roots level, the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation funds scientific research, medical treatment, rehabilitation and technological advances. His popular program – Day at the Races – is held at speedways across the country and hosts those with spinal cord injuries and other forms of paralysis. All the while, he, his wife of nearly 14 years and their 9-year old daughter and 7-year old son wait for a day when they hear a different message than this:

“This bill would support the taking of innocent human life,” Bush said when explaining his veto decision. “Each of these human embryos is a unique human life with inherent dignity and matchless value… Our conscience and history as a nation demand that we resist this temptation.”

You have to hand it to him. He said all that with a straight face.

At its simplest form, here’s the so-called temptation: There are more than 400,000 embryos fading away in those tanks, and only a fraction are candidates for adoption. Even now, the number of pregnancies from them is 128 over nine years.

What Bush didn’t say: The legislation he rejected stated only embryos that would otherwise be thrown away would be used for research, and only with the written consent of the couple that created them, and for absolutely no monetary gain. That is not the moral controversy many would have you believe. This is about saving lives, not destroying them.

Think about it: For those embryos destined for a Hefty bag, isn’t it instead worth trying to investigate the possibility of finding potential cures for diabetes and cancer and ALS and Parkinson’s and sickle cell, for giving a man like Schmidt a change to walk his daughter down the aisle one day? Not to mention the money that would be saved (it’s impossible to accurately predict the amount of zeros we’re talking about) that goes into treating and rehabilitatingd such patients?

In denying the bill, Bush also guarantee most research would remain under the secret scope of private companies, free from the strict and wide-ranging guidelines and rules the federal government could impose if funding the studies. Free from scrutiny and any threat of remaining within all ethical boundaries. Free from any moral obligation to refuse any attempt at, say, cloning humans.

Bottom line: A terrible mistake with one stroke of a pen.

“It would be one thing if nobody wanted to donate the (embryos) and they were really hard to come by, but that’s not the case,” said Schmidt, who turns 42 next month. “Let’s put some hard rules in place and spend the money and run with it at the federal level, and if it’s a dead end, they’re going to be discarded, anyway. For this not to be allowed is criminal.”

Veto that.



Ed Graney’s column is published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 702-383-4618 or [email protected].