No proof of stem-cell successes

To the editor:

I am not a doctor or nurse. I'm a high school graduate. But I feel I have a lot to gain or lose on Amendment 2.

I do a lot of doctoring and nursing in my daily life. My husband has Parkinson's disease. It is a horrific, debilitating, lonely disease that affects the whole family. No one can imagine the struggles a Parkinson's patient goes through each day. One minute he is doing pretty well and the next he can hardly walk. The weakness in his body takes over, and he can hardly walk from the door to his chair or bed. You can imagine our joy when we heard our state was going to get some stem-cell research passed in an amendment.

Our joy was short-lived. I many not be in the medical field, but I do have a computer and know how to access the Internet and do research. I have found no proof of embryonic stem cells helping anyone. I thought I had to be wrong. I had read all the information on Amendment 2 put out by its advocates. They were saying it would help Parkinson's, diabetes (which I have) and cancer. But no facts were found to substantiate this.

After much discussion and soul-searching, my husband and I agreed no possible cure for Parkinson's or any other disease is worth the destruction of thousands of embryos and the abuse and misuse of women to obtain these embryos. We will be voting no on Amendment 2.

MARY and RONALD JANSEN, Leopold, Mo.