Medical Technology: Stem Cell Research

Essay by teecie1College, UndergraduateA-, October 2011

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

Medical Technology: Stem Cell Research

Humankind, Society, and Technology

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Your heart races, your so consumed by the news you forget to breath. Your body becomes weak and soon you fall to the floor. For a moment time stands still. The only thing your mind is fixated on is the word "cancer". Cancer, how can my child possibly have cancer? I have done everything to protect her and here I stand in complete helplessness. Can't there be anything I can do, can't we stop the cancer and repair the body and heal her? What can I do, what can I do to save my daughter? The doctor explains to you the treatment options but with hesitation in his voice says that these treatments are not necessarily a cure and that they have extreme side effects. Then out of nowhere a voice reminds you of the stored cord blood you saved years ago that held the possibility of one day saving your child.

The retrieval and storage of cord blood holds these amazing tiny cells called stem cells that have mass potential to treating many diseases ranging form Parkinson's to cancer. Over the past ten years the media has been informing that world of these amazing cells, the sources where they are found along with many pros and cons of researching and using such controversial technology. Today, I would like to talk about stem cells, their sources, possibilities , advantages and disadvantages.

With a prominent family history of diabetes, heart disease and cancer I feel that the question I am asking myself is no longer if my children will get these diseases, but more likely when will my children get these diseases. Being a parent makes you a very strong and wise individual. When a parent does not have an...