11 May 2008 - 12:54Cellutations from Urbino

We are on a mountain top in Urbino, Italy at the university, home to a key stem cell bioethics professore. [pro-fessor-ey], central to my own recent professional research, so this is exciting. We’re finished with the cruise-rabbi segment of this trip, but one thing that happened on the ship connects to the stem cell topic with amazing synergy.

By way of orientation, first a bit about the relevant and inspiring history of Urbino, where utopian intentions were grounded in Renaissance humanism. This university town still functions as a collective to some degree, which is amazing given that one of its rulers, Duke Frederico is described as having conceived it as a place where people would be equals, regardless of rank. Frederico was a patron of the arts, a student of history and passionate advocate of humanism. He gathered scribes and copiests to create the second largest library after the Vatican in his time. Among dozens of examples on display we witnessed a huge illuminated book of Psalms, written in exceptionally beautiful Hebrew calligraphy and translated into Greek and Latin; the illustrations send a soul soaring into connections pregnant within the text and the translation seemed sweet and accurate (I can only vouch for the Latin, have not studied Greek.). The duke’s palace shows a fascination with the emergence of perspective as a dramatic addition to the repertoire of the Fine Arts of his time, and for all time.Let’s not romanticize, Duke Frederico was both a scholar, patron to poetry, art and science, and he made his way up from his birth as an illegitimate child by being a warrior of reknown, often for hire. After being knighted, he was wounded during a jousting tournament - one eye was gounged out along with most of one side of his face as well as the bridge of his nose. Wounded healer? He provided for the widows of his wounded warriors which included education for the children. He was said to walk safely in the streets of the town unarmed, beloved by the people. Jews were among the tolerated populations under the Duke’s reign and scholarship shows he worked at protecting the Jews in his realm via ensuring their role as along as “practitioners of the money trade whose credit served to induce economic equalization and prosperity in the monetized society of fifteenth-century Urbino.” [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-111738112.html]

After Frederico died, his  second wife Battista Sforza and her frail son ruled for some time. A youth with incredible artistic talent came to their attention (Raphael(lo) the artist whose works inspire to this day and whose school continues here in Urbino. So it does not surprise that Urbino might be a good home to science as well as the arts. Now for the ship-board connection to our saga.Here is a bioethics dilemna for you. A woman attends to a man via hospice while his wife is dying, her own husband has already died of cancer earlier. They become friends and marry and alas, he develops skin cancer, heals. Then colon cancer, heals. Then

-seven liver tumors and
-as he is preparing to enter the hospital for treatment with a new drug, Avastin and for both surgical and radiologic removal of the tumors, having already been told to put his affairs in order and expect imminent death, at this moment, his second wife is called and informed her stem cells are a match for someone who is dying of leukemia. They tell her the odds of this match are 600 million to one. Can she leave her husband’s side to donate her stem cells? Without her doing so, one person dies for sure.Leukemia affects white blood cells and what would happen is that Mrs. Rosenberg’s stem cells would harvested from her blood and then treated to grow into healthy white blood cells which are then injected into the recipient.. Donors are checked for psychiatric stability, as once the recipient is prepped, he or she will die if the donor backs out.

Additional data. Her first husband was an early advocate of stem cell donation and lived in hope of being a donor before his inevitable death. She had gone along with being tested and entered into a registry when he was, and now, the chance of a lifetime to fulfill his dream by becoming the donor herself.What would you advise? If you are wondering about using fetal stem cells, not possible for this condition at this time. Fetal stem cells are a different matter entirely – medically and bioethically. Those taking the course Bioethics, Jewish Law and Role of the Clergy Person will study this in depth with me this fall, among a number of topics.Jerry Rosenberg husband urged Lea to the mitzvah. Arrangements were made for her stem cells to be collected in the same hospital where he was. And the results were…Two miracles. First, Jerry Rosenberg, who celebrated his 75^th birthday on the ship, survived and last month was declared cancer free, for now.

One thing I learned about serving as clergy on a cruise ship is that there are lots of counseling hours involved – relationship issues, 3-5, usually of advanced age will die of natural causes on a typical cruise, we had one suicide, and then there are those who fall ill and request a visit, and crew who request confidential counseling. Jerry was no trouble to “minister to” because he was in the most radical state of amazement at still being alive of any human I’ve ever encountered. To hear and witness him, to learn the determination it takes to get through the most horrific of chemo regimentia and multiple surgeries, to hear him say the treatments were so rough he became ready and preferring to die but other’s insisted he keep trying for life. To listen to this couple’s stories of docs at the true cutting edge and realize advances are pouring through in time for some…wondrous.Second. Lea Rosenberg [first name is pronounced Lee] did not, at first, know whether her stem cell donation made a difference because there is a practice of confidentiality for both. Three years later a call came from the center to say the recipient lives in England and wants to make contact with her to express his appreciation – would she be willing to speak with him? A Cypriot national working as a chauffer in London, it seems his boss had paid the six figure bills for his access to the stem cell treatment that saved his life. He insisted they come to England enroute to the cruise to meet his family. There they also were hosted by the boss’s wife, for her generous husband had not lived long enough to see his employee survive the treatment. This is how a woman founder is forged, now Lea is a major advocate for stem cell research and donation, which puts the donor at neither risk nor in pain. Imagine a world registry where each of us can instantly be found if needed. Duke Frederico never met Raphaelo, but he created the forum where such a talent could be identified and flourish. Moses never saw the promised land, but he lead the way. Lea’s husband did not survive to donate, but his virtue led her to a great mitzvah and Lea, she points the way for us all.Here is a link to a site that explains the registery:http://www.cityofhope.org/blooddonorcenter/marrow.htmWe continue our travels tomorrow to – Gubio, Italy a town which is 2500 years old and utterly intact.
with love, R’Goldie