[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 22, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S4698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        letter from maya fielder

       My name is Maya Fielder and I am 9 years old. I live in 
     Palo Alto, California and I am in the 4th grade at Escondido 
     School.
       When I was a little baby my Mom found out she had 
     Parkinson's Disease. I was with my Mom, but I don't really 
     remember when the doctor told her she had a bad disease that 
     gets worse and worse and doesn't have a cure. I know that now 
     there are lots of things I can't do with my Mom and sometimes 
     I feel like I have to take care her instead of her taking 
     care of me.
       I learned that Parkinson's Disease is when your brain 
     doesn't produce enough dopamine. Dopamine is important 
     because it tells your body how to move. My Mom's body tremors 
     and she can't write things down or if she does no on can read 
     it, not even her. She gets disabled to walk so she rides my 
     scooter around the house (I'm not allowed to ride in the 
     house though). And sometimes she can't even walk until her 
     medicine starts working so my Dad and I get things for her. 
     She takes tons of pills every day but the medicine or the 
     disease causes more problems for her so my Mom tries new 
     medicines and different things a lot to try to get better.
       Our whole family works hard to help find a cure for 
     Parkinson's. My mom talks about Parkinson's to the newspapers 
     or on the news whenever she can and sometimes my name or 
     picture is shown too! We had a charity art show at our house 
     and Uncle Dan's art raised a lot of money. I even sold a 
     painting and all the money went to Parkinson's research. My 
     mom said that if researchers got enough money from Congress 
     and from regular people that scientists could find a cure in 
     5 or 10 years. That would be good because I won't be a grown-
     up yet and my Mom will get better and we could go iceskating 
     together.
       But now we have a big problem. I heard President Bush say 
     that all cloning research has to stop. My Mom was really 
     upset because she said the President and some people in 
     Congress want to stop researchers from finding a cure for 
     Parkinson's and lots of other diseases that make millions of 
     people sick. I don't get it.
       One part of the Pledge of Allegiance says ``Liberty and 
     Justice for all''. I don't think the government is giving us 
     much liberty or justice--at all!
       People are scared of the kind of cloning that would make 
     new people (reproductive cloning). But what's so scary about 
     finding a cure for my Mom? That kind of cloning is called 
     therapeutic cloning and doesn't make people or kittens or 
     anything like that--it would just help my Mom's brain work 
     again like it is supposed to.
       I think that the people who make the laws should make rules 
     so scientists won't do bad things with research. But can't 
     they still be allowed to do the good research? My mom said 
     the Brownback bill that is being voted on Congress soon 
     wouldn't allow scientists to do the good kind of research 
     that would help her. She also said that this law wants to put 
     people like her in jail if they try to get cured. That's just 
     dumb! My Mom isn't doing anything wrong by just trying to get 
     well.
       I thought I might want to be a scientist when I grow up but 
     I don't think so any more. I just want to find a cure for my 
     Mom. I guess I'll become the President of the United States 
     so that I can make good laws that help people and cure 
     diseases. I'll let scientists do their work and make all 
     kinds of new discoveries.
       I know that this isn't the most important thing for 
     everyone. But I think that if someone in your family was sick 
     and you were worried, that you would do everything you could 
     to help them get better. You wouldn't make laws so that a 
     cure would not be found and you wouldn't put them in jail.
       Please help find a cure for my Mom and everyone else that 
     needs one instead of making it harder. I'm doing as much as I 
     can do to help my Mom and other people too (when I'm not in 
     school or doing sports or playing violin, but Mommy says that 
     helps her too). This is really important to a lot of people. 
     Thank you.

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