Challenging the commonplaces: Weyman Johnson's bold, unscripted talk on the heterogeneity of multiple sclerosis and the need for cutting edge research to address all aspects of MS engaged every one of the thousand people who attended the 2006 National Conference. He left the stage to a standing ovation. Below is an excerpt."I do not want to talk with you today so much as the chairman of the National Board of the Society, but more as a man who has MS. I'm wearing my 'other hat' today.... "This organization has always challenged the commonplaces about MS. For example, in the 60s my father developed MS. His sister, my aunt, already had the disease. And the doctors told us that this was coincidence Coincidence is the noteworthy alignment of two or more events or circumstances without obvious causal connection. The word is derived from the Latin co- ("in", "with", "together") and incidere ("to fall on"). . By the time I was involved with the Society we had begun to fund research into genetics genetics, scientific study of the mechanism of heredity. While Gregor Mendel first presented his findings on the statistical laws governing the transmission of certain traits from generation to generation in 1856, it was not until the discovery and detailed study of . We have put millions into genetics research and continue to do so. "I remember being told that MS doesn't affect African-Americans. I've met the brilliant doctor, Mary Hughes, and have heard the story of her family, and I know that the genetics research funded by the Society is helping put the lie to that commonplace as well. "We also heard that MS does not happen to children. But thousands of children around the world are affected by MS. We are putting millions of dollars into finding out why. "Another commonplace we're challenging is that nerve tissue nerve tissue n. A highly differentiated tissue composed of nerve cells, nerve fibers, dendrites, and neuroglia. cannot be repaired. There are now signals coming in from research, some of which involve stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo), which is very young , that nerve tissue can be repaired. And that suggests that we may be able to do something for people with severe progressive multiple sclerosis multiple sclerosis (MS), chronic, slowly progressive autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks the protective myelin sheaths that surround the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord (a process called demyelination), resulting in damaged areas . "We have to infuse in·fuse v. 1. To steep or soak without boiling in order to extract soluble elements or active principles. 2. To introduce a solution into the body through a vein for therapeutic purposes. the anti-MS movement with hope. Not that a cure will happen today, but that it will happen, that soon there will be no more multiple sclerosis and no more National MS Society." Weyman Johnson, Chairman, National Board of Directors |
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