Presidential advice sought for an ailing local man

By Mike Moore

Friday, September 24, 2004 12:03 AM CDT

Tell me what to say, President Bush.

We're pumped that you've decided to come and visit us this afternoon. Since you'll be here, maybe you can help.

Tell me what I should say to Kevin Granger.

Help me explain to him why he has to pack up from Caledonia and fly to China to have an operation by a doctor he's never met. He has ALS, you see, what most people call Lou Gehrig's disease.

I ask because this involves a topic where I know you have strong thoughts: Medical research and stem cells. In between cabinet meetings, one of your aides might have briefed you on a recent poll by the Pew Research Center. I mean the one that suggests 52 percent think it's more important to conduct research using stem cells than to save the embryos.

I realize you can't rely strictly on what the public wants when you're setting policies. Your job is bigger than that.

I don't know all of the factors you have to consider in your decisions, but I'd like you to consider one more: Kevin Granger.

Since you've only allowed federal funding to cover certain kinds of cells, Mr. President, people are going elsewhere to have these kinds of things done. Places like China.

Actually, Kevin's treatment falls just outside the big debate because these aren't really stem cells. He's having cells from the nose of an aborted baby inserted into his body. They're called olfactory glial cells.

Apparently that minor distinction doesn't free it from the stem cell controversy. Why else wouldn't the treatment be offered in the high-tech U.S. of A.? Trust me, Mr. President, abortions make me sick too. My mind won't sugar-coat them, not even when they bring the possibility of life to someone else.

That said, I still don't know how to tell this man he's wrong to attempt to prolong his life.

That's not overdramatizing. If nature takes its course, Kevin likely will be dead in a couple of years.

I can see why you drew the line where you did, President Bush. It bothers me that people are out there producing embryos just to kill them off, especially when there's no assurance they'll cure anything.

Your move was an important step. Researchers can receive federal dollars to work with older embryonic cells and, just as importantly, stem cells from live adults.

Some people even say those adult cells are more effective. You've probably read they could someday replace the heart bypass surgeries people have - people like the guy who inhabited the White House before you, Bill Clinton.

In fact, Kevin Granger has heard of researchers in Australia and Portugal who are working on a technique to treat his illness that would pluck cells from the patient's own nose.

That'd be the best compromise, right? Sick people get some hope and we Americans have no messy moral dilemma on our hands.

Problem is, it's nowhere near ready to test on humans. You and I might live to see that treatment save ALS patients. Without a change, Kevin won't.

President Bush, I'm sure you know better than anyone the speed at which government approval travels. I bet you could tell stories.

So what can I tell him, that he's simply come down with this disease at the wrong time? As someone who emphasizes his compassion, I'm sure you wouldn't approach it that way.

Kevin is a proud American, and he'd prefer U.S. oversight on this one. Unfortunately, every day he loses more functionality. In a year, he could be in a wheelchair for good.

That means doing whatever is necessary. That includes a trip to the Far East, well beyond the blanket of American political sway.

He knows this journey to the East is not the cure-all. All he's trying to do is stick around in case somebody makes a real breakthrough.

It might be a longshot, but it's the only bet Kevin Granger can make. For that, our country officially views him as immoral. Can I tell him why? Mr. President, you have a flock of speechwriters. One of them must have something.

Mike Moore is the associate editor of The Journal Times. He can be reached at (262) 631-1724 or by e-mail at mmoore@journaltimes.com

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