Dear Oprah, Jenny and crew.

I've seen Jenny on tv and she's a great inspiration, to me, especially when my family had berated me with such words as "cripples shoudn't be allowed to have babies, how will you possibly care for a baby with only one arm and no balance?"

I'm a stroke survivor, a cancer survivor, and have been run over by a semi truck. and too much more to list. I must be surrounded by Angels. I know that I am. Because I'm still standing!

Even so, not a one of my challenges compares to Jenny's. She's a true "Warrior princess"

I'm very blessed to have watched her on tv

thanks Oprah and Jenny.

I know even before I ask, that my question will be denied but I'll try anyway.

I would like to know what Jenny thinks of Sarah Palin's decision to go ahead with her pregnancy, even though she knew her child would be a special needs child. I would also like to know what she thinks of all the nasty, ugly and downright evil things that have been said about this woman. I personally hold Sarah Palin in the highest regard. She is The Real Thing. She is Every Woman. Her traditional values are my values.

I wonder why the left wing keeps forgetting about the Silent Majority. We are here, and once again we will make our voices heard on election day.

Will Jenny talk about the safety testing of the alternative medicine treatments her organizations promote? I would hope this issue gets at least some discussion.

Patti,

I agree, Jenny's perspective would be interesting, simply as another voice in this long discussion we call a campaign. The remainder of your post intrigues me as you say you hold Sarah Palin in high regard--I presume for particular reasons. But then you say she is every woman, which to me presumes that she represents most women, including me.

Would you agree that is fair to say that people (women) may agree and disagree with different aspects of Palin's values, and goals? For example; I believe she is a bright, accomplished mother, and Governor, who seems to juggle her life with confidence and adherence to her own personal beliefs. However, her extreme views do match mine, her policy positions differ from mine. Yet, I firmly believe that I too, am everywoman.

What can we do to illustrate to other women that it is okay to base our important vote on analysis that goes beyond identity politics. How can we help us all to become intellectually comfortable with the idea of separating our social comfort with a person from their ability or intention to impact our lives in a way that we need or want most?

Personally I would feel more comfortable voting for the person I perceive to have the ability, judgement, commitment and experience to pursue our common goals more so, than voting for the person that seems most like me. I would love it if that person also happened to mom like me, but having kids and a vagina in common is not enough to gain my vote.

Can we agree that all of the candidates are strong public servants, but that as a nation should vote for them based on criteria that goes beyond whether or not they would be cool to have a beer or a coffee chat with?

It seems weird that we would pick social comfort over intellectual depth, experience or common goals.

Just my 50 cents, thanks for sharing yours.

Notmom

Jenny McCarthy is an amazing "warrior" mom who lives consciously and with purpose and as such, I believe, is a fantastic role model and great spokesperson for autism. The show Warrior Moms has not even aired yet and I am scared and interested to watch. My daughter was just released from the hospital on 7/9 after contracting necrotizing fasciitis and I can only say with all my heart and sole that I believe in miracles. There is a 70-80% mortality rate with this disease and my daughter was not supposed to live (according to the doctors). I know that there is something bigger and greater than us in this universe and I can truly say "Thank God!" To all the "warrior" moms out there, God bless you all and don't give up what you are fighting for, especially when you know that your six sense/gut feeling is right.

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I just read Monica's story and she is truly amazing. I look forward to seeing the show this afternoon. Please CONNECT Monica with another woman that has been going through something very similar. Her name is Carol, she is from Seattle WA. She had her second baby girl in June via emergency c-section. Carol has lost both legs, one hand and she is now blind. She is REMARKABLE and so very beautiful inside and out. As is her entire family and supportive community. True "warrior moms" to the core. It is stories like these that should make every person so grateful for even a healthy "bad" day. God Bless all these amazing moms.

I agree, Monica is amazing! But in this time of technology, couldn't the Oprah network find a way to hook her up to some voice activated software so she could email, pay bills on-line, etc.? I'm sure that there is something out there that would make her amazing life a little bit easier!

Please help her!

Thanks, from a cancer survivor warrior mother of two!!

I am in awe of Monica's positive attitude and her drive to have a wonderful life with her family. In october of 2004 i too was diagnosed with Necrotizing Fasciitis in my right thigh and pelvic area. I was fortunate...after 20 days of being in a medicated coma, 19 debriedment surgeries and almost 2 months in the hospital, i survived and was able to keep my leg.

If you all would like more information, there is a website dedicated to NF and it's effects. You can also be educated on causes and symptoms.

If you search on the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation, you should be given a link to it (I would link here, but unsure of the rules on linking to websites.)

Listening to Monica brought back my experience from 25 years ago.
I too ended up with the same flesh eating bacteria. With similar results.
I fortunately just lost my toes and some use of my left hand.
I had many sugeries as well. My daughter, Alice was also born prematurely at this time and has Cerebral Palsy.
She was affected on her right side. My husband is like Tony. Never for a moment did I feel less of a woman. I am always precious in his eyes.

The support we had at the beginning was great.
What sometimes becomes hard is that years later, you have to find your own support. It does not come as easily.
I am doing great now. We had two other daughters at the time.
Today Lydia is 34, with a PhD in physiology, with her own daughter and a wonderful husband.
Emily, 27, just got married this past summer, also to a wonderful husband.
And Alice, 25, the last one, is working at her dream place, a horse stable.
She competes in horse shows, not special olympics anymore, but regular horse shows.
This year she is moving into her own place with supports.

This experience forced me to reprioritize my life. Having to be an advocate for my daughter forced me to go out there and do what needed to be done. I am a past member of the Deelopmental Disabilities Council. I now facilitate a peer support group for Granite State Independent Living. I've done many things over the past years to help bring awareness of disabled people as part and partial of our community.

Thank you for having Monica on to help me remember where I once was and how far I have come.
as always, Arlette Stawasz

I was so excited to see that Jenny was going to be on Oprah today. I have grown to respect her immensely for everything she has done to speak out about Autism and voice her inspiring story. I don't have any children, but just hearing Jenny talk so passionately led me to do a great deal of research on the topic myself so I can be prepared when I do have my own child.

I also wanted to add that I was truly touched by the pride and really out-right love Jim Carrey seemed to have for Jenny and her little boy. I have always felt he was a little on the immature and annoying side, but after seeing him with her today I have totally changed my opinion of him. He really showed a different side today.

Thank you Jenny McCarthy for being different from the rest of the self-centered hollywood pack- using your notoriety for something other than furthering your career. In your decision to take your personal story public and creating awareness you are touching many, many family's lives.

Keep up the good work!

Jenny McCarthy- you are fooling yourself if you think that your celebrity has not contributed to the anti-vaccination movement in the U.S. & abroad. Sure, its 'also your next door neighbors' who are spreading this misinformation about a link between vaccination & autism, but you have a platform & more influence on the public & have a greater ability to get the misinformation out there than the average 'next door neighbor'. I'm glad you called for more research into the causes of autism & research into recovery or partial recovery from autism, but you are perpetuating the deadly (and not scientifically-based) myth that vaccination lead to autism.

Jenny McCarthy is dangerous. Because of her notoriety she is able to spread her faulty message of FEAR to MILLIONS of people. I'm so glad Oprah read the statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics--this surge in measles cases is happening all over the world, and it's people like Jenny McCarthy who are fueling it. Scientific American JUST published the findings on September 3, 2008 of a study that found NO link to the MMR vaccine these zealots of the anecdotes. She's trying to have her cake and eat it too by asserting that she is NOT anti-vaccinations, just anti-UNSAFE ones...that sounds like she's running for some office...

In 2005, vaccinations for measles in Nigeria went way down--the result?? Hundreds of children died. In 1999, almost a million deaths a year were attributed to measles. Because there has been a coordinated effort to VACCINATE against measles worldwide, deaths are down to about 345,000/year--but if you are NOT vaccinated AND you come into contact with an infected person, the chances of GETTING measles is 90%. So great,. The medical community, through hard work, has decreased number of deaths from this disease by about 2/3. But STILL!!! 345,000 year is TOO many. And I dont' know of ANY cases of autism that have been FATAL.

Plus, does the 1/150 number of kids diagnosed with autism include Asperger's, the illness that is included on the Autism SPECTRUM, but not ACTUALLY a form of autism itself?? (Yes, I know, people will get angry and say "if it's on the spectrum, it's autism...but the illnesses progress in VERY different ways, which is WHY it is NOT a "mild form of autism." "Mild" cases of autism exist COMPLETELY separately from cases of Asperger's.) The thing is, this "rise" in cases of autism goes back to when the DSM IV came out to INCLUDE Asperger's as a recognized illness ON the Autism Spectrum of disorders. So I would VERY much like to know if these FACTS are being accurately represented in this hysteria over autism diagnoses. I seem to remember that the chances your kid will go to PRISON during his lifetime are GREATER than that he will be diagnosed with autism. Perspective, people...perspective.

Now, having smartly pissed off EVERYBODY with my FACTS, I want to share with you that my 29 year old brother who has autism spent the night with me Saturday night. He developed epilepsy about 6 years ago, had a VNS electrical implant in an effort to reduce his seizures, takes HANDS-full of pills morning and night to keep the epilepsy in check, broke his arm while getting ready for bed last year by falling into the tub during a seizure, has begun to show signs of Bipolar Disorder, and he was the only ONE of my 4 siblings to attend the memorial for my only daughter, who was stillborn 5 years ago (am I a MOM, too, Jenny??? ha ha) He marched right up to the front row and sat next to me. He held my hand throughout the entire service.

He's PERFECT just the way he is. He's sick, yes...but not everybody GETS the same start in life, the same chances. I am disabled, too, and I dont' have a husband or daughters to motivate me--not that I would EVER, EVER say the mother on the show today is NOT an inspiration. She seems like a really neat woman. And not everybody has YOUR rescources, can TAKE the kind of time OFF you can...

Arghhhhhhhhhh...you just make me sick...

My opinion is that IF there turns out to actually BE some kind of link between autism and ANY vaccinations, (because as we ALL know there IS NOT ONE NOW), it may be linked to EPIGENETICS. Have you CONSIDERED that??? The concept is the process by which identical twins are not 100% identical in their likes/ looks/and even sexual orientation, the fact that over their lifetime they will look more and more dissimilar. Simply put, a gene is NOT just a gene. Epigenetics SHOWS us that genes can be "triggered" to either express physically or to NOT express. In other words--they can get turned ON or OFF, perhaps due to environmental cues (such as a VACCINATION.) So it MAY be that IF the two are linked, it's because the TIMING is JUST right to TRIGGER one of these switches to go ON or OFF.

OK...I think I'm done here...

I am a mother of an 11-month-old child, and because of the multiple shows featuring autism and Jenny's statements about vaccines, I had a long talk with my own pediatrician about the MMR shot. My own pediatrician has 2 young children and she had them both vaccinated. She was very patient in explaining to me that the MMR shot has not been proven to cause autism and all studies have shown otherwise.

I get frustrated because every time Jenny is on Oprah, there is no scientist or rep from the American Academy of Pediatrics to talk about the dangers of measles, mumps and rubella. Where are the doctors and scientists? Where are the pediatricians who are vaccinating their own children? These people work with autistic children all the time. The decision not to vaccinate a child puts all our children at risk - it puts at risk those elderly and infirm people in our society with low immunity.

I know three mothers that have decided not to vaccinate their children, or to partially vaccinate them, based on these shows featuring Jenny McCarthy. Is that the message you are trying to send?

Jenny you rock! (and so do Evan and Jim) Thank you for the book, I read it all afternoon before the show and you are our voice girl, keep shouting! Just a quick comment on the APA's statement of autism/vaccine connection "unfounded", well, my "letter" would say, if you seek the information, you will find it! When I saw the regression into autism for my son, after a severe reaction to his 1 yr. vaccines, I FOUND what the APA defines as unfounded. Recovery is possible, we are on the path and will never give up! Nor will I shut up to anyone who will listen what happened to my son, vaccine regression, DAN! progress, outrageous mercury excretion, yada, yada, yada.....

Warrior Moms Unite in Autism!