know what it's like to sit for one half of an hour, all skweamy and everything hands flipping all over the place, and feet going a mile a minute. And no, or at least very limited, conscious way of controlling it. I'm surprised that MJF would do an interview as long as that in such a hyperactive state.
YOu and I also know that that we get exhausted, because your brain is drained of a chemical that it needs to keep funtioning. In the video clip above, we see MJF at one of those very recognizable stages of the dosing cycle, it's one those states where youv'e got enough sinemet just starting to get into the system and it's like meds first thing in the morning a "Hard Reboot". It was if looking into a mirror, that's when I have to use a bit of Neurontin or Klonopin to "settle down".
And here, seeing MJF do one of our "daily performances" ; things that we are often very self-concious of, just lettin' it all hang out in an interview was, to be truthful, quite a bit of a shock.
BUT, every bit of it is true, and he's still so alive in his head, but his body has betrayed him. That's one half hour in one parkie's life,. Multiply by millions and you have a sea o' hurtin'. LIfe shouldn't have to be this way; if the research community was empowered by support from all people, regardless of political association, then promises become reality.
MJK pretty well said it all. And stem cell technology is only a bridge to future therapies. History will record the eventual success or failure of stem cell technology only on how far it gets us to much more sensible therapies that don't involve any type of "harvesting" of millions of embryonic cells for tissue implants. The tissue implant potential therapy is a "bright target" to the cure of many diseases. As of yet we have not the tools that we need to find the ultimate cures that stem cell work will address. WE can only advance in this area if we are allowed to have unfettered access to stem cells (from any source right now) which get closer and closer to the ultimate goal of taking some of your own cells and cloning them into the "perfect" implant bioengineed tissue, made to order from yourself.
So, MJF is no "shill" for anybody, he will back any candidate that personally has the sense that spending federal monies on disease prevention and cures, is a noble pursuit. His involvement in the politics of PD (and other diseases) is warranted because he personally has built a research entity that is ready to "come alive" with stem cell research activity, making that promised "5 years" come closer to a reality.