Political Quotes

“just a few minutes ago, four young people from the State of Illinois visited my office. They were a variety of different ages, from 10 years of age to the age of 17. They all came because they had a similar life experience, and they wanted to share it with me. Each one of them had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Ten-year-old Owen from Deerfield told a story--the cutest little kid; great reader; read me a presentation that he put together--and the young women who were with him all talked about how their lives changed when they learned at the age of 7 or 8 that they had type 1 diabetes. For each one of them, from that point forward, insulin became a lifeline. They had to have access to insulin, and they had to have it sometimes many times a day, in the middle of the night. It reached a point where, through technology, they had continuous glucose monitoring devices and pumps that were keeping them alive, but every minute of every day was a test to them as to whether they were going to get sick and need help. It was a great presentation by these young people, whose lives were transformed, and their parents, who were hanging on every word as they told me their life stories. They brought up two points that I want to share on the floor this afternoon. The first is the importance of medical research. As one young woman said--she is about 17 now. She has lived with this for 8 or 9 years.…”