Our Town: Fighting for life Our Town: Fighting for life (August 18, 2004)

by Don Kazak

When Robert Klein's son Jordan was 11, he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Klein went to work to do something about that. That was three years ago.

Klein, 58, of Portola Valley, is now the statewide chairman of the Proposition 71 campaign, otherwise known as the stem-cell research measure. If Proposition 71 is approved by the voters in November, it will provide funding and open the door for medical research using embryonic stem cells in California.

Klein is working full time on the campaign, with his staff running his Palo Alto company, which finances and builds affordable housing around the state.

He first got involved with the quest to do something about juvenile diabetes, lobbying for federal funding for research.

"It was clear to me that after talking with scientists around the world that we could mitigate this disease but not cure it without embryonic-stem-cell research," he said.

But President George W. Bush, by executive order, severely curtailed such research three years ago by limiting the embryonic stem cells available for medical research. It was, and is, a controversial order because many believe it is based on religious beliefs, not on science.

There are some 400,000 frozen embryonic stem cells in fertility clinics around the country that won't ever be used to make babies.

"Don't throw them away," Klein said.

The value of embryonic stem cells is that they can adapt and develop into any cell in the body that is needed -- unlike adult stem cells, which are already differentiated by function.

Many scientists, including Dr. Irv Wiessman, a Stanford physician-researcher, believe that using embryonic stem cells may someday provide cures for a host of chronic diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and many others.

With stem-cell research almost at a standstill, Klein decided to do something about it. He began contacting support groups for people with various illnesses and hooked up with a Southern California group focusing on diabetes, Cures Now. They formed the committee for Proposition 71 a year ago.

Klein met Weissman last October at a conference of stem-cell research scientists in Singapore. "I talked to the best stem cell scientists in the world," Klein said, which strengthened his resolve to get Proposition 71 passed.

The campaign raised $7 million through the end of July, compared to just $50,000 for the opposition. Klein, at $1.9 million, is the largest individual contributor.

Fifty seven patient-advocacy groups have endorsed the proposition. "We're getting three or four major endorsements a week," he said.

"I'm the representative of one family," he said. "But there are many families involved in this."

Yet Klein's family has a double interest: While his son has diabetes, his mother has Alzheimer's.

After former President Ronald Reagan died after suffering from Alzheimer's, Nancy Reagan spoke out for the need for stem-cell research, as did President Reagan's son, Ron, at the Democratic Convention.

"As Nancy Reagan said, we can't afford to lose any more time when there is so much suffering going on," Klein said.

The issue has split Republicans between support and opposition to the position of President Bush.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is a fiercely pro-life Republican. But he's equally passionate about the need for stem-cell research.

In his book, "Square Peg," Hatch explained his position: "The passionate defense of life should not stop at birth. We have as profound an obligation to a child outside the womb as we do to one inside .... If the potential of this field is realized, one day a wide range of diseases and degenerative and debilitating conditions can be cured. Lives will be saved and unfathomable suffering will be avoided.

"The purpose of this research is to save life, not terminate it," Hatch declared.

Klein's dedication to find a cure for his son's illness has been boundless.

"It's extraordinarily frustrating to have completely non-scientific reasons for stopping this research," Klein said. "It's too late for my mother. It's just inexcusable."

Weekly Senior Staff Writer Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com.

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