Prop. 71

After my last post about not talking of my own life here, I'm going to violate my own law. Why, because the personal is political. That is especially true for me with proposition 71.

I have had the honor of knowing a man by the name of Jim Wong. He is the father of a girl I used to date. He and his family are wonderful people who always made me feel extremely welcome in their home.

Ten years ago Mr. Wong was diagnosed with Parkinson disease. He had been dealing with the disease for years and never complained once about it. I saw him take all the drugs necessary to control (not cure, mind you) his condition. The best way to illustrate the amount of pills taken is this: You know those pill cases that have a space for each day of the month...That case of 31 slots for pills would last Mr. Wong ONE day, because he would take so much medication in a short period of time.

Even in the relatively short time that I knew him, I saw his condition worsen. His shaking got worse and wasn't able to walk at times. If you noticed him stuttering when he walk you would have to point it out so that his brain would send the proper signals to his body.

The point is this is a wonderful person who is dealing with a condition that will, not might, will end his life. But this is only because of the present state of science without stem cell research, this could change if studies using stem cells were done. Which could also help others that I know like Melissa Sherak who is in remission from MS or Chad Darvey who finally succumbed to Muscular Dystrophy while he was in High School. I like to remember Chad when we in kindergarten when he could still run (not well at all) and it brings a smile to my face. He was in a wheelchair from 4th grade until then end of his life.

Anyway, this all was a plug for prop. 71, if you would like to read more about Jim Wong you can read about it here.