Press Conference Remarks on Stem Cell Research
Cody Unser

Cody Unser gave the following address at a press conference in July 2006, which was held in Washington DC the day before HR-810 was voted on in the United States Senate.  Her comments were given on behalf of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation and on behalf of people living with some form of paralysis.  In addition to Cody, there was a person with MS and a young girl with Type 1 Diabetes who spoke about the benefits which would derive from stem cell research.  This press conference was covered by C-Span. 

Cody is a sophomore at the University of Redlands in California.  She is majoring in Biopolitics.  Her personal goal is to help politicians and scientists develop more effective dialogue through communication, education and compassion.  Cody heads the Cody Unser Firststep Foundation, serves on the Board of Ambassadors of Johns Hopkins Project RESTORE and is a member of The Transverse Myelitis Association. 

Everyone hopes, dreams, or prays for some miraculous answer to some almost unreachable question.  Will I ever walk again?  I have hoped, dreamed, and prayed for an answer to my almost unreachable question.  Stem cell research is my vital life support; my light at the end of this paralyzing tunnel, and the ‘first step’ to my recovery and healing from Transverse Myelitis (a rare inflammatory condition) that has left me paralyzed from the chest down for the last seven years.  Why am I so confident that this light at the end of the tunnel is so promising?  I have seen research strides at Johns Hopkins with my doctor, Doug Kerr, in Baltimore where a paralyzed rat regained the full function of its legs.  I was overwhelmed because the answer, no matter what it was, was hope I couldn’t ignore. 

It was over a year ago when HR-810 was passed in the House of Representatives.   If compassion was considered, then we had made our first step to unlocking the answer and ending the suffering for over 100 million Americans.  Now more than ever, humanity demands even more compassion.  I know there is a lot going on out in the world today, especially in the Middle East, and it isn’t ironic that we are given the chance right here and now with HR-810 to better the quality of life for all of humanity.  If we can’t save the world, we can definitely heal it.  I just would like to thank everyone who has been involved with this from the beginning on the political stage and most importantly, to those scientists and researchers who see the hope and the power of stem cell research, never letting the politics crush the potential for a better life.  I would like to thank one of my New Mexico Senators, Jeff Bingham, for supporting HR-810, and although it’s been a challenge for him, I would like to encourage my other Senator, Pete Domenici, to vote yes on HR-810. 

This war is one that has been unnecessary for all who suffer from Parkinson’s, paralysis, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, to name a few, to be fighting.  I believe in this research and I hope that every Senator who is thus far opposed to stem cell research, and the President who has threatened to veto this bill, will look deeper into their own humanity, one without politics and religion.  Stem cell research is a human issue, not a religious and political one simply because human suffering does not discriminate against any one religion and any one political view. 

While the answers, cures and treatments lie in the hands of science and medicine, the funding and oversight to ensure efficient, ethical and responsible research lies in the hands of the U.S. Senate.  By not voting on H.R. 810, not only do we ensure that these one hundred million patients suffer further, America’s leadership position in the fields of science and medicine will also suffer, if our brightest minds are shackled by the darkest political maneuverings.  Currently, hope is making people so desperate that they are leaving the country to other countries who are not foreseeing this issue in an ethical operation.  Americans overwhelmingly agree that stem cell research needs to be freed from the politics of Washington, and that the government must provide funding to allow the real work to be done in the laboratories of America, with oversight by the National Institutes of Health.

Over a hundred years ago man couldn’t fly.  All I want to do is walk again.  Stem Cell research is my answer; don’t let me and others who are suffering wait any longer.  Vote yes on HR-810, a pro-patient, pro-research bill!  Thank you all very much!