In six months there is a good chance I'll be dead. This doesn't bother me nearly as much as having a President who wants to jail scientists and doctors who are trying to find cures for people with my disease and other illnesses such as diabetes, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and so many others.

In October 2001 I was diagnosed with a grade three Astrocytoma-a brain cancer with no known cause and no known cure. Not surprisingly I tried to learn all I could about the disease and medical research in the field. I learned that brain cancer is technically not really cancer. It is, in fact, a disease of stem cells. And just like that, the political debate on stem cell research became more than a political argument to me. It became a debate of hope verses despair.

I watched President Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address from my hospital bed in Shands hospital in Gainesville, Florida. During the speech he urged congress to ban "all human cloning." Unfortunately, "all human cloning" includes therapeutic cloning, which is one and the same with stem cell research. The President likes to call it cloning because he knows it creates images of mutant or butchered babies, when in fact stem cell research (also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT) as nothing to do with babies or fetuses. In fact, the egg cells used in therapeutic cloning have no chance of being fertilized or transplanted into a woman's womb.

The arguments against stem cell research are scientifically unfounded and at best, are based on personal religious beliefs. I take exception to the President using his religion to dictate public health policy. Policy should be based on science, not sectarian beliefs. The President describes himself as a compassionate conservative. But what is compassionate about outlawing vital research? What is conservative about using the federal government to dictate religion?

I fully realize that my time is limited, and any cures discovered from stem cell research will be several years away. My concern is with the future generations. Almost 20,000 Americans per year will get the same type of brain cancer I did. They will be children and adults, men and women, black and white, Christian and Muslim. The disease is not hereditary, yet has no known environmental cause either. There is no rhyme or reason to who gets it and why. What we don't understand about the disease far outweighs what we do understand about it. How can any of this change if studying the very root cause of the disease is made illegal?

There are bipartisan bills in Congress that recognize the importance of stem cell research and I hope that our representatives, senators, and president will give the millions of Americans who fight for their lives every day against life threatening illnesses the hope they need and deserve.

Peggy Prichard Ross is a resident of Gainesville, Florida and can be reached at [email protected].

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