More education is needed on pulmonary hypertension

More education is neededon pulmonary hypertension
EDITOR:
I live with a rare and often misdiagnosed illness called pulmonary hypertension. Currently there is no cure, but with recent advances, there is hope. Pulmonary hypertension is a rare disorder of the lungs and heart, causing its victims to suffocate.
Through expanding research, the horizon is just starting to look brighter. I have been on a drug called Tracleer for a year and a half now and am doing well. I can go for groceries and come home and put them away without being exhausted. Three years ago, I could not walk 25 feet without gasping for air. I also get a full night's sleep, where before I slept three or four hours and got up for work and started all over again. Now thanks to modern science and research, I can live a full life -- on oxygen of course and with the help of 15 other pills a day.
Congress is considering a bill that would expand research for thousands of people like me. The bill is called The Pulmonary Hypertension Research Act of 2003. I am asking the help of the community to get this bill enacted as a law.
The bill helps in three ways:
1. An expansion of pulmonary hypertension research at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHBLI)
2. The establishment of three medical "Centers of Excellence" to support research into the cause, diagnosis, early detection, control and treatment of PH, PH training program for scientist and health professionals on PH and dissemination of information to the public on PH.
3. The establishment of pulmonary hypertension data system and clearinghouse at NHLBI.
If you want to know more about PH and have a computer, go to www.phassociation.org. All residents of the Valley who are interested in helping this bill become law, please call your member of Congress and ask for co-sponsorship of HR 1316.
Thank you for being a lifesaver.
ELIZABETH A. LAIT
Hermitage, Pa.
Federal courts should keephands off the Bill of Rights
EDITOR:
The continuing debate over the display of the Ten Commandments in courthouses and other public places calls for a review of the history of the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights.
The amendment seems clear, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." The establishment of religion of concern to the founders was, of course, the Church of England, the official church in the mother country and the American colonies. The founders did not want one particular faith favored over others and therefore prohibited Congress from making any law which would have that effect.
The recent attack on public displays of the Ten Commandments, is essentially a violation of the First Amendment provision that there shall be no prohibition of the free exercise (of religion). The wisest course is to let states and local communities handle the great debate as they choose, and for Congress and the federal courts to follow the Constitution and "keep hands off" our Bill of Rights.
The extreme-left liberals who intimidate many judges and politicians on this issue are a serious threat to all 10 of the Bill of Rights.
MILTON R. NORRIS
Canfield
Kudos to San Franciscofor its audacity to explore
EDITOR:
It's interesting that the San Francisco board of supervisors has allocated $2 million to weigh the feasibility of harnessing the tides of the Golden Gate, the channel for which the famous bridge is named. The tides could generate, it's believed, 2,000 megawatts -- double what the metropolis currently uses.
As stated in the September/October Sierra Magazine, the method to be used is expected to bother sea life very little. And, being underwater, there would be nothing to spoil the vista of ocean and bay.
"Every great advance in science," affirmed philosopher/educator John Dewey (1859-1952), "has issued from a new audacity of imagination." Perhaps we have need for such audacity now?
WILLIAM DAUENHAUER
Willowick