John Hope Bryant: “I do rise in support of the Children's Health Act and would like to alert my colleagues to two issues which specifically…”

“I do rise in support of the Children's Health Act and would like to alert my colleagues to two issues which specifically are addressed in this bill and which are of concern to me and interest to me: Duchenne muscular dystrophy and day care safety. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common and most catastrophic form of genetic childhood disease, occurring in one of every 3,500 live births and generally killing its victims in their late teens or early twenties. My first experience with a family suffering from this devastating disease was in 1998 when my constituents Roy and Carol Henderson from Memphis first contacted my office. Their son had been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. I remember the pain and frustration that that strong family expressed to me as they began to search for answers to the difficult questions of why their child was afflicted with this awful, debilitating disease. Why were there so few treatment options for their son? And, most importantly, why had the government failed to prioritize more Federal resources toward finding a cure to this terrible disease?”