Political Quotes

“I am pleased to introduce the Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Enhancement Act. Even though pulmonary fibrosis, or PF, kills almost as many people as breast cancer every year, it has not received the attention it deserves. Imagine being told by a doctor that you have a life-threatening disease with no known cure, no consistent standard of care, and no reliable prognosis. Though environmental factors, including occupational exposure to pollutants, are believed to play a role in its onset, PF has no strong demographic profile. In most cases, the doctor can't even tell you what has caused you to get sick. That is exactly the situation faced by the 48,000 people who are diagnosed with PF every year in the United States. Pulmonary fibrosis attacks the lungs, causing them to stiffen, thicken, and scar. As the disease progresses, it becomes harder and harder for oxygen to enter the bloodstream to feed the brain and other vital organs. Currently, the median survival rate for a person with PF is only around three years, and the disease kills roughly 40,000 people every year in the United States. That translates into someone with PF dying every 13 minutes. Perhaps the core obstacle in the fight against PF is how shockingly little we know about the disease. Because the research on PF is still in its infancy and awareness of PF is less than it needs to be, more than half of the cases are initially misdiagnosed.”