EDMONTON, October 12, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Disabled rights activist Mark Pickup, who has a debilitating case of progressive multiple sclerosis, commented yesterday on the death of Christopher Reeve. While he shared many of Reeve’s sufferings, Pickup is an activist on the other side of the embryonic stem cell research debate.
“Along with millions of other people, I mourn Christopher Reeve’s passing and extend my sincere condolences to his family,” wrote Pickup. Outlining his similarities with Reeve, Pickup wrote: – Christopher Reeve and I were close in age. – Both Christopher Reeve and I had careers cut short by disability (he with spinal cord injury and me with progressive multiple sclerosis). – Christopher Reeve and I benefited from the support of a loving family throughout a long catastrophic disability – We both had to live in electric wheelchairs and other contraptions of disability. – Like Christopher Reeve, stem cell research holds great promise for me to reverse the effects of my advanced multiple sclerosis.
Noting the key difference Pickup said, “However, I could not morally accept embryonic stem cell therapies to deliver me from MS—a disease that’s slowly destroying me. Don’t get me wrong, it would be tempting … incredibly tempting!” See a recent article by Pickup on this temptation: https://www.wcr.ab.ca/columns/markpickup/2004/markpickup101104.shtml Pickup notes, “While we all mourn the passing of Christopher Reeve, understand that fetal stem cells would not have delivered him from his quadriplegia. Embryonic stem cells hold the least promise for therapies of any kind.” He concluded saying, “Indeed. I pray that America now rallies around Chrisopher Reeve’s family in tender embrace as they grieve the loss of their husband, father and son.” See Pickup’s website: https://www.humanlifematters.com jhw