Kevin Brady: “I, too, want to add my thanks and appreciation to my classmate on her years of dedication and stellar service to the…”

“I, too, want to add my thanks and appreciation to my classmate on her years of dedication and stellar service to the United States of America on behalf of your wonderful State. Thank you. Some of you may remember David, the little boy in the bubble. He was a constituent from Shenandoah, Texas, who passed away at the age of 12 after living many years of his life in a sterile environment at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas. His mom, Carol Ann Demeret, is a champion for David and for other patients who were born with immunodeficiency disease. Carol Ann is a friend and a constituent, and has worked so hard to help those patients impacted with that disease. For years now, Carol Ann and I and many others have been fighting to change the law that could help patients like David. Intravenous immune globulin, or IVIG therapy, is a vital step for treating patients with certain life-threatening diseases. These are patients for whom virtually every trip outside is potentially deadly. For the 250,000 Americans with primary immunodeficiency disease, there is no place more dangerous than going to a hospital for treatment. This is why home IVIG treatment actually prevents people being exposed to common illnesses that may make you and I miserable for a day or two, but could be deadly for patients with suppressed immune systems.…”