Persuasive Speech: Stem Cells

Before I was even born, my mother had a best friend named Bob. He was a pretty well known lawyer at the time, and a very successful man. He had two children, a wife, and many friends who knew and loved him. My mom and Bob had been the closest friends for around five years, up until the point where he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of fifty. He left all of that behind when he passed away from the painful cancer that had consumed his body. For the first time in her life, my mother knew what it was like to lose a best friend, and she lost him in the worst way possible. Just like Bob, many other adults, children, and elderly people have suffered through so many diseases, without knowing a cure, until now. Today, I hope to persuade

you to support stem cell research so that we can begin to save the lives of our friends and loved ones, through the creation of new body parts.
We have one very important question to ask: What are stem cells, and what do they do?

According to Mayoclinic.org, stem cells are the body’s original cells, from which every other cell with a specialized function derives from. Under the right conditions within your body or inside of a lab, these unique cells divide themselves to generate a larger amount of cells, eventually constructing a new body part or internal organ of your choosing. With this, we are able to create new hearts, limbs, and bones. This allows army veterans with lost limbs and children in need of a heart transplant to have new opportunities and live a normal life with their new body

parts.
Stated by The National Institutes of Health, most stem cells are created from human embryos, but only with the consent of a woman who has decided to donate her stem cells. They are produced through vitro fertilization, or in other words, a “technique that unites the egg and sperm in a laboratory instead of inside the female body.”. These are classified as embryonic stem cells, and are highly controversial, especially amongst religious communities. Their aversion for stem cell research is rooted in the fact that in order to harvest an embryo’s stem cells, the embryo must be destroyed.
Mentioned by howstuffworks.com, the entire argument heating up many scientists and religious leaders alike is all due to the question “When does life begin?”. Even though you only destroy four or five cells, many religious communities see that as the equivalent of taking away a human life, which it is clearly not. There is no baby formed through this process, and at this point, the embryo is literally just a heap of four to five cells, with no function yet, whatsoever. However, the special stem cells gained through the embryo have a great potential to save many human lives, which is what many religious leaders opposing the research of stem cells fail to realize. Let’s say destroying an embryo would actually be the equivalent of taking away a human life. Even if we all adopted that mindset, I would still support the research of stem cells because for every “life” you take, you are saving three others.
But don’t fret if you’re convinced that harvesting an embryo is equivalent to taking away a human life.

Currently they are doing more research on different ways to obtain stem cells, without harvesting an embryo. According to the National Institutes of Health, the first way to obtain different stem cells is through an adult’s surrounding organ tissues. Adult stem cells are found within a body’s organ tissues. Their main purpose is to repair and maintain those tissues, using cells to multiply in order to replace old tissue. Scientists have found that since these reparative cells have the ability to create new tissues, they could very well create the organs where they are located through the right conditions. This way of obtaining stem cells has been much less controversial than the original way of obtaining them, but at the same time, is a lot less efficient. Generating a new organ or body part is time consuming through this method, but we have to keep in mind that scientists are still finding other ways on how to obtain stem cells.
Mentioned by Mayoclinic.org, adult stem cells found in a human’s tissues can be genetically altered and given properties of embryonic stem cells. This expedites the process of generating new replacement organs, and also prevents immune system rejection of the new organs. The only fault in this process is the fact that scientists aren’t certain whether genetically modifying these adult stem cells and placing them back in the body will cause adverse

and unwanted effects in a human. Further research must be made and collected in order to be able to trust these foreign stem cells in the body.
Also according to mayoclinic.org, there is a third way of obtaining stem cells, which is through amniotic fluid found in a mother’s womb. All we know about the stem cells found within the amniotic fluid is that they also have the same ability to change into specialized cells, but we don’t know the extent of their potential just yet, so more research has to be done over this.
If you need more proof that stem cells are extremely beneficial to disease ridden people, then just listen to these incredible stories.
Stated by frc.org, several people with rare, autoimmune diseases have successfully been treated and recovered from these life threatening illnesses due to the use and research of stem cells. Many of these people have gone through extensive chemotherapy sessions in an attempt to battle these burdensome diseases. No one wants to live an unhealthy life, and unfortunately for most of these people, not even the extreme chemotherapy would work without cancer coming back and interfering with their lives.
One example of a miraculous recovery through the usage of stem cells is Jill Rosen’s battle with lupus and an autoimmune disorder. Rosen was diagnosed with both of the illnesses in 1997. Her health only went downhill from the diagnosis, and soon, she found herself desperate to be in good health once again. Most of all, Rosen was simply exhausted of being in a hospital for months, and not noticing any improvements whilst on a chemotherapy treatment. She contacted Dr. Richard Burt, who she knew was developing a new treatment involving stem cell transplants, specifically for autoimmune disorders. The stem cells were planted into her body by 2005, and by the year 2006, her health had drastically improved. She has remained as healthy and happy ever since.
Another real-life story is the one of Amy Daniels. She, like Jill, was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called scleroderma, which caused her organs to thicken and harden. Soon after being diagnosed, her skin became abnormally tight, to the point where she was practically paralyzed. She couldn’t bend her head backwards, neither could she make a simple fist or cross her fingers. The illness eventually then attacked her lungs, and that was when she also contacted Dr. Burt. In 2007 she had stem cells planted into her body, and as the story goes, she recovered dramatically through the course of only 6 months. She was finally able to return to work as her skin returned to normal. Now she can move her limbs and body around without any discomfort, and is living happily knowing that her children didn’t lose have to lose her.
Overall, if more people were in favor of the research and usage of stem cells, our world could not only advance greatly in the medical realm, but also save millions of people’s lives.
Today, I hoped to have successfully persuaded you to support stem cell research. It’s time to give millions of diseased people in society a second chance to live normally and benefit many of America’s young cancer patients, army veterans, and even our own friends and family. It’s time to open our minds, and give stem cells a try.