MAY 8th, 2004 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Tribute to Nancy Reagan Beverly Hills, California Thoughts from Leeza: My utmost respect and admiration goes out now more than ever to Nancy Reagan who was honored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on May 8th for her courageous stance in favor of stem cell research. Mrs. Reagan received the caregiver award as the audience honored the love story between herself and our former president. "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place", the former first lady said. "I can no longer reach him. We've lost so much time already, I just really can't bear to lose any more. Science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with many answers that for so long have been beyond our grasp." It was an historic moment with Mrs. Reagan speaking publicly for the first time about her support for the research. Michael J. Fox presented her award with a moving speech and Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, James Taylor and many other celebrities were in attendance. (James Taylor performed and it made many of us in the audience cry…he was THAT good!) The evening was a personal and emotional one for me. I have been involved with the JDRF for several years since my niece, Taylor, was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. I was honored to present remarks about stem cell research to the crowd, some of which I have posted here. We are poised to make advances as meaningful as the smallpox vaccine and antibiotics, but we MUST educate the public so they can make informed choices. At The Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, we have an opportunity to be helpful with that effort. » read Leeza's speech from the event