Posted by Alan F. Bachrach, M.D. on December 04, 1997 at 22:41:57:
In Reply to: Re: Profit motive? posted by Marina on December 04, 1997 at 15:09:01:
Marina,
I really appreciated your comments. We all have different ways of reacting to the pain this disease causes. I believe it causes all of us pain. This includes people like Al Gordon who are diabetics themselves as well as parents like you and me who fear that the most precious "thing" in our lives, our children, will not be able to live out all of their dreams because of this disease. I would gladly trade with my children if God allowed us to make "deals" and I'll bet you would too. You have been impatient in the past with Charlie L, but I believe this disease causes him pain as well.
I am probably able to give or invest more than many people, but less than others. Even 15k or 150k is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. I wish I was Ted Turner (or one of his counterparts) and could simply bank roll the whole thing.
The point of my posting was that I have tried to think of ways to effect better funding for islet cell transplant research which go beyond my own ability to fund them. I also want to see the work done on a continuous pump/monitor system because I think it would be a big step forward. I haven't been too successful in figuring out how to be of help in finding funding, but I am certainly open to suggestions. I plan to attend the march in Washington if it materializes but I do not believe it will have a very big impact on our legislators. The impact will be brief, even if it is a powerful statement. So the question again is how can we be of help in making sure that the smaller private companies as well as academic centers with promising cure research get the funds they need? I'm sure open to ideas. We have a pretty energetic group of people here. Someone ought to have a better idea.