Cancer researcher Sandra Ryeom suggests there may be power hiding in Down Syndrome:
Instead of searching for perfection inside average; this Down Syndrome research example proves how we must enter into the imperfect to find undiscovered forms of perfection that hide beyond our common perception.
Proactive Down Syndrome research must be applauded and celebrated as the disabled prove their worth and their power in stretching exception and in demanding reconsideration of what we always falsely believed were average and appropriate.
Although people with Down syndrome are at increased risk for leukemia, they rarely develop solid tumors, such as cancers of the breast or colon, says Sandra Ryeom, a researcher at Children's Hospital Boston and author of a study published online Wednesday in Nature. In a study of 17,800 people with the disorder, the mortality rate from cancer was less than 10% of what doctors would expect to see in a general population.This sort of research proves the wonderful condition of the investigative human mind is as it weighs in against the spirit of destiny.
In the past, doctors assumed that people with Down syndrome simply didn't live long enough to develop solid cancers, because many died in their 30s, Ryeom says. Yet children with the disorder don't develop common pediatric cancers, either, such as neuroblastoma or bone tumors.
The answer to the mystery probably lies on chromosome 21. People with Down syndrome have three copies of the chromosome instead of two. That extra chromosome -- and extra copies of disease-causing genes -- are responsible for many of their health problems. But researchers suspected that the extra chromosome may protect them indirectly by preventing tumors from growing new blood vessels, she says.
Instead of searching for perfection inside average; this Down Syndrome research example proves how we must enter into the imperfect to find undiscovered forms of perfection that hide beyond our common perception.
Proactive Down Syndrome research must be applauded and celebrated as the disabled prove their worth and their power in stretching exception and in demanding reconsideration of what we always falsely believed were average and appropriate.
I wonder how this research could be used. Some kind of extract to be injected somehow?
Would it be some sort of gene therapy injection, Gordon? Would the effect be permanent or only temporary? It would be amazing if we could take the best of us -- of EVERYONE -- and add them to each of us -- ALL OF US -- to give us the best of each other in us.
What an outstanding article!
The possibilities are endless and the source is the handicapped! Finally, someone is paying attention!
What a noble thought in your comment to Gordon! Wouldn't that be the miracle that the world of science and medicine are searching for? A life altering inoculation for the mass population ... in reality, on a cellular level!
Until then, we are waiting for such an achievement to make the lives of all humanity the best quality of life possible.
Too often we push away those who are not "average" and, Kimberley, in that action -- we limit ourselves to being just the way we are: Average. When we begin to look into the perceived imperfect to find secrets that can benefit all of us, we will begin to start living human lives.
True! I think the best place to start is to come to a consensus on the definitions of "average" and "perfect."
If we as a society are endeavoring to achieve a more perfect life ... to what common goal are we reaching for?
I ask that because in history Hitler had an idea of what was a perfect person to survive in his society. We are not looking for the idea of a miracle but the realization of it! Of course, every good thing begins with a good idea. It is the implementation of that idea that varies the outcome.
It seems pertinent that we are all heading in the same direction. If we are to continue to push away the "average" contributing members of society ... we will most certainly fail at our endeavors for betterment of the human life.
The "no child left behind" motto that the school systems have adopted, when implemented, have helped eliminate the undesirables from falling by the wayside. We need more programs directed to meet the needs of such children as those who suffer from Downs Syndrome.
We discussed some of this previously here:
http://urbansemiotic.com/2007/05/31/normal-discrimination-and-average-power/
And here:
http://urbansemiotic.com/2009/03/30/is-above-average-abnormal/