Dear Congressman Blunt:
When we met with you in your office back in August, I had forgotten to e-mail you a photo of the group when you so graciously posed outside in the stifling heat with all of us from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation here in the Ozarks. Please find the photo attached.
When we met on that grueling hot day, the Special Diabetes Program (SDP) hadn’t been introduced yet. But alas, it is upon us again as the legislation was introduced on September 29, 2009 to renew the SDP.
Although you are familiar with the bill H.R. 3668, I just want to bring to your attention that it currently has 75 co-sponsors and yet none of them are from our great state of Missouri.
You had told me last August, in your office, that you would vote to renew the SDP for five more years so that it will include $200 million per year in federal funding for type 1 diabetes research at the National Institutes of Health.
Congressman Blunt, I am counting on you to co-sponsor this bill and renew the Special Diabetes Program to help find a cure for juvenile diabetics like myself and that precious 3 year-old named Hayden that you held on your lap that day that we met in your office. You were there for me during my freshman year at Southwest Baptist University in 1995 when I was so sick with diabetes, and I’m hoping that you will be there for me again by co-sponsoring this bill.
Thank you for helping us find a cure.
Sincerely,
Jessica Hickok
