On the recordOctober 5, 2000
I rise today because 3 years ago I met a young family from Burlington County, NJ, who had exactly this impact on me, my life, and my own service in the Senate. Kevin O'Donnell was 31 years old, a devoted father who was skiing with his daughter one weekend, when he noticed a strange pain in his leg. It persisted, which led him to visit his family doctor. Here, he was shocked to learn, despite his apparent good health, the vibrancy of his own life and his young age, that he had been stricken with ALS, known to most Americans as Lou Gehrig's disease. We are fortunate that ALS is a very rare disorder. It affects 30,000 individuals in our Nation, with an additional 5,000 new cases diagnosed every year. We should be grateful it is so rare because the impact on an individual and their health and their family is devastating. Indeed, there are few diseases that equal the impact of ALS on an individual.
Source
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