Pro Football Hall of Fame Member Jim Kelly and the March of Dimes Urge Pennsylvania Legislature to Expand State’s Newborn Screening Program
10-Jun-08 |
Jim Kelly, former Buffalo Bills quarterback who led the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls, joined the March of Dimes in hosting a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, June 10, 2008, to urge members of the PA House and Senate to approve and fund the Newborn Child Testing Act (House Bill 883).
“Pennsylvania lags behind all other states and the District of Columbia in screening newborns for the full panel of treatable metabolic disorders which, if detected early may be managed effectively sometimes as simply as a change in diet,” says James Dennis, March of Dimes State Director. “It is our goal to ensure that every newborn in Pennsylvania has access to lifesaving screening as early as possible.”
Kelly and his wife, Jill, established the Hunter's Hope Foundation when their son was diagnosed with a newborn condition, Krabbe, four months after he was born in seemingly perfect health. Despite being told his health would decline rapidly and he would probably not live past fourteen months, Hunter lived eight years.
“When I played for the Buffalo Bills, we played as a team. Everyone pulled together and we supported each other,” says Kelly. “We’re doing the same thing today: our Super Bowl win will be when every child in every state is screened for every treatable disease. It’s the losses that we learn from – and no loss compares with that of losing a child. That’s why newborn screening for 'Every Child, Every Time, Everywhere' is so critical.”
Hunter’s Hope has teamed with the March of Dimes to secure enactment of the Newborn Child Testing Act (House Bill 883) to expand Pennsylvania’s existing newborn screening program to include the 29 “core” treatable conditions recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) and endorsed by the March of Dimes and American Academy of Pediatrics. Senator Jane Orie and Representative George Kenney, who sponsored the bill, have championed this measure along with Senator Ted Erickson.
The bill was approved unanimously by the House, and the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, and is awaiting action by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Donating is easy online, by phone or mail / fax.
|
|
|
