>Are you a tetraplegic? Don't worry, we will just literally rewire your nervous system to give you functioning limbs again. Do you have tiny tumor in your pancreas?
I find it humorous that you use paralysis as the 'don't worry' disease -- it's (quite literally) one of the least treatable conditions we know of, while simultaneously being one of the oldest recorded.
I get the comparison that you're trying to create, but paralysis (more specifically paralysis caused by nerve damage) is by no means a closed case -- and virtually no one (compared to the suffering population) has access to treatment options that change quality of life by any significant means.
Aside from those qualms I mentioned, I think that comparing a quickly-fatal disease (pancreatic cancer) with a set of conditions that shortens lifespan and decreases quality of life (tetraplegia) , but is generally a maintainable condition if acute treatment is survived, is a comparison built upon weak premises.
disclosure : I have a spinal cord injury at my C5 vertebrae. In Europe i'm a tetraplegic, in the United States i'm a quadriplegic, but by whichever lingo you want to go by i'm effectively uncured. My condition has remained unchanged since my injury -- so I definitely have 'skin in the game' on this topic.
'Don't worry.. .. give you functioning limbs again.' would be seen by quite a few other paralyzed folks I know to be pretty offensive. I'm thick skinned, but many others aren't. The immobility granted by a nerve injury is just one of many terrible experiences a sufferer of such a condition may go through.
In other words: "Ignore the loss of bladder and bowel control, infertility and ED, the triggering of auto-immune diseases, breathing irregularity, heart arrhythmia, generally much reduced life-span, and the necessity for round-the-clock nursing care, here's an arm back!" is not an effective enough treatment for which we can say 'Don't worry' yet.
I do have hope -- but the techie in me has more faith in the pursuit of BCI/Spinal-cord-skipping rather than biological treatments.
Thank you for covering this issue properly. I cannot thank you enough. As a disabled individual, I appreciate you telling it for what it actually is here. That can be hard to do.
I find it humorous that you use paralysis as the 'don't worry' disease -- it's (quite literally) one of the least treatable conditions we know of, while simultaneously being one of the oldest recorded.
I get the comparison that you're trying to create, but paralysis (more specifically paralysis caused by nerve damage) is by no means a closed case -- and virtually no one (compared to the suffering population) has access to treatment options that change quality of life by any significant means.
Aside from those qualms I mentioned, I think that comparing a quickly-fatal disease (pancreatic cancer) with a set of conditions that shortens lifespan and decreases quality of life (tetraplegia) , but is generally a maintainable condition if acute treatment is survived, is a comparison built upon weak premises.
disclosure : I have a spinal cord injury at my C5 vertebrae. In Europe i'm a tetraplegic, in the United States i'm a quadriplegic, but by whichever lingo you want to go by i'm effectively uncured. My condition has remained unchanged since my injury -- so I definitely have 'skin in the game' on this topic.
'Don't worry.. .. give you functioning limbs again.' would be seen by quite a few other paralyzed folks I know to be pretty offensive. I'm thick skinned, but many others aren't. The immobility granted by a nerve injury is just one of many terrible experiences a sufferer of such a condition may go through.
In other words: "Ignore the loss of bladder and bowel control, infertility and ED, the triggering of auto-immune diseases, breathing irregularity, heart arrhythmia, generally much reduced life-span, and the necessity for round-the-clock nursing care, here's an arm back!" is not an effective enough treatment for which we can say 'Don't worry' yet.
I do have hope -- but the techie in me has more faith in the pursuit of BCI/Spinal-cord-skipping rather than biological treatments.