thank you david for that warm introduct __PUNCT__
david is not onli on of the most brilliant polit mind in the busi todai __PUNCT__ he is a love husband __PUNCT__ a commit father __PUNCT__ and a dear friend who i been honor to have by my side __PUNCT__
thank you david for everyth you do __PUNCT__
i also want to thank susan axelrod and the entir leadership of cure for allow me the honor of speak here thi even __PUNCT__
as mani of you know __PUNCT__ susan live and breath thi organ __PUNCT__ from the earliest hour of the morn until late at night __PUNCT__ everi dai of her life __PUNCT__
and i have no doubt that if the rest of us ar will to offer just a fraction of her level of passion and commit to thi caus __PUNCT__ on dai we be gather here to final celebr a cure __PUNCT__
sinc i first learn about thi organ from david and susan __PUNCT__ i often thought about the simpl act of hope that began it journei __PUNCT__
i thought about three mother __PUNCT__ sit around a kitchen tabl __PUNCT__ share the pain and the helpless that go along with watch the child you love __PUNCT__ the child whose happi you live for __PUNCT__ struggl with a diseas that mom and dad can't fix __PUNCT__
a diseas that doesn't necessarili go awai with the doctor medicin __PUNCT__ that isn't talk about most night on the new __PUNCT__ that isn't fund and recogn like a lot of the other diseas __PUNCT__
but then i also thought about how on that dai __PUNCT__ those three mother said __PUNCT__ no more __PUNCT__
mayb it wa the memori of the first time thei saw a seizur take their child to that lone place where thei could no longer reach them __PUNCT__
mayb thei thought about the __NUM__ million american who suffer from epilepsi __PUNCT__ the ten of thousand who succumb to it __PUNCT__ and the __NUM__ more who will be diagnos thi year __PUNCT__
or mayb as thei sat around that kitchen tabl __PUNCT__ three friend live similar experi __PUNCT__ thei simpli realiz that there ar some challeng in life you can't take on by yourself __PUNCT__
that there is power and strength in the abil of a commun to make a differ __PUNCT__
and that as that commun reach out and grow and find it voic __PUNCT__ so grow the hope that it will somedai find a cure __PUNCT__
well __PUNCT__ seven year __PUNCT__ thirti research grant __PUNCT__ on white hous confer __PUNCT__ and over __MONEY__ million in donat later __PUNCT__ i can see tonight that the kitchen tabl ha becom a lot more crowd and that thi commun is on it wai __PUNCT__
and yet despit all the progress __PUNCT__ the question still weigh on your mind is __PUNCT__ how do we get all the wai there __PUNCT__ how do we get all the wai there when __PUNCT__ despit the fact that epilepsi affect more american than parkinson __PUNCT__ multipl sclerosi __PUNCT__ muscular dystrophi __PUNCT__ and cerebr palsi combin __PUNCT__ it still receiv far fewer feder research dollar than ani of these diseas __PUNCT__ how do we get there when too mani polici maker and too much of the public still think that epilepsi is __PUNCT__ as brendan malon told us in the video __PUNCT__ an __PUNCT__ inconveni __PUNCT__ rather than a seriou __PUNCT__ and possibl deadli diseas __PUNCT__
i think that we get there the same wai that so mani of you got us here __PUNCT__ by continu to share your stori and your children stori with the faith that more and more american will open their heart to listen __PUNCT__
with the faith that if there a littl boi who can't sit through a class without suffer the pain and uncomfort stare that accompani a seizur __PUNCT__ it matter to everi mother __PUNCT__ even if it not her son __PUNCT__
that if there a young woman who can't work and can't take care of herself and can't have children of her own becaus of the brain damag caus by epilepsi __PUNCT__ it matter to everi father __PUNCT__ even if it not hi daughter __PUNCT__
person __PUNCT__ i can't begin to imagin what a parent who ha a child with epilepsi goe through on a daili basi __PUNCT__
but i know what it like to be a parent __PUNCT__
and as a father with a littl girl who suffer from asthma __PUNCT__ i can understand the terror you feel when your child wake you in the middl of the night gasp for air __PUNCT__
when you would rather stop breath yourself if it meant that she could start breath just a littl easier __PUNCT__
in thi wai __PUNCT__ your stori touch me as both a father and a friend __PUNCT__ and i will leav here tonight have adopt your caus as my own __PUNCT__ as so mani have done befor me __PUNCT__
i will go back to washington and work with my colleagu rahm emanuel and other to demand more feder fund for epilepsi research __PUNCT__
but i also believ that if each of us walk out of here and tell the stori of the __NUM__ million parent __PUNCT__ brother __PUNCT__ sister __PUNCT__ daughter __PUNCT__ and son with epilepsi __PUNCT__ it will touch other who mai not understand thi diseas __PUNCT__ becaus thei ar mother and father and friend too __PUNCT__
and as thei embrac our caus __PUNCT__ we will expand thi commun of concern until there isn't ani room left in thi countri not to listen __PUNCT__
thi ha been the stori of cure ever sinc it found __PUNCT__ the inspir idea that those of you who have dedic so much of yourselv to thi caus ar do so know full well that a cure mai not arriv in time to heal your love on __PUNCT__
and yet __PUNCT__ you continu fight with the hope that you mai spare a nameless face the pain your famili have known __PUNCT__
that kind of compass is heroic __PUNCT__ and it is the kind that will eventu defeat thi diseas __PUNCT__
we need thi victori now more than ever becaus todai __PUNCT__ we face a new threat in the potenti spread of epilepsi to thousand more american __PUNCT__
just last week __PUNCT__ usa todai report that hundr of u. __PUNCT__ soldier ar return from iraq with a condit known as traumat brain injuri __PUNCT__ or tbi __PUNCT__
even though new technolog and better bodi armor ar help them surviv bomb and rocket attack __PUNCT__ the blast ar still caus these soldier brain damag __PUNCT__
as of __DATE__ __PUNCT__ __NUM__ case have been diagnos in armi hospit alon __PUNCT__ and some doctor ar sai that it could becom the __PUNCT__ signatur wound of the iraq war __PUNCT__
as some of you mai know __PUNCT__ tbi is the greatest risk factor for develop epilepsi __PUNCT__
in fact __PUNCT__ a studi of vietnam vet show that __NUM__ percent of those who suffer tbi went on to develop the diseas __PUNCT__
we have ask these brave men and women to leav their home __PUNCT__ leav their famili __PUNCT__ and fight for our freedom on the other side of the world __PUNCT__
and now we ar find out that when thei come home __PUNCT__ thei mai develop a life __PUNCT__ threaten __PUNCT__ debilit diseas that thi countri ha not done nearli enough to treat __PUNCT__
we simpli cannot tell our hero that when it come to deal with tbi or epilepsi __PUNCT__ thei on their own __PUNCT__
i know cure won't __PUNCT__ and i will go back to washington and make sure the feder govern won't either __PUNCT__
i plan to work with my colleagu in congress to provid the va with the fund to research tbi and epilepsi so we can learn more about the diseas and develop better tool to care for our hero __PUNCT__
these soldier have mom and dad wait for them at home __PUNCT__ thei ar a part of our commun __PUNCT__ and we will speak for them __PUNCT__
i know that a lot of you have been struggl with epilepsi for a long time now __PUNCT__ and that you seen both good dai and bad __PUNCT__
on the bad dai __PUNCT__ it mai seem like salvat will never come __PUNCT__ that parent and children will be suffer with thi diseas for decad to come __PUNCT__
but i think we find hope by rememb that we been here befor __PUNCT__
that there wa a time when america watch helplessli as a mysteri diseas left thousand __PUNCT__ especi children __PUNCT__ disabl for life __PUNCT__
and just as it seem that no on wa pai attent and noth could be done __PUNCT__ a commun of compass awok and led a march of dime to find the cure for polio __PUNCT__
organ with the help of franklin roosevelt and back by the feder govern __PUNCT__ the march of dime galvan a nation to conquer polio __PUNCT__ dime by dime __PUNCT__
and while roosevelt knew that hi own polio would never be cure by the discoveri of a vaccin __PUNCT__ he also knew that at it best __PUNCT__ govern can be us a forc to accomplish togeth what we cannot achiev on our own __PUNCT__
and so the peopl began to care and the dime pile up and the fund start to flow __PUNCT__ and fifti year ago next month __PUNCT__ jona salk discov the polio vaccin __PUNCT__
i know that we don't have a presid with epilepsi __PUNCT__ or a major celebr spokesperson __PUNCT__ but we do have a grow commun that is on the march __PUNCT__
we have alli in govern who know that we can defeat thi diseas if we work togeth __PUNCT__
and we have the hope that everi parent ha for their child __PUNCT__
the hope you have the first time you bring them to the doctor offic __PUNCT__ and you just want them to walk out with some medicin and a lollipop __PUNCT__
the hope you have the first dai you watch them get on the bu __PUNCT__ when you want them to fit in with the rest of the kid and do well in school __PUNCT__
the hope you have the dai of their first job __PUNCT__ when you want them to call you and let you know how great it went __PUNCT__
the hope you have when thei walk down the aisl __PUNCT__ when you want noth more than for them to find love and happi in life __PUNCT__
these ar hope we hold not onli for our own children __PUNCT__ but for everi parent and everi child everi where __PUNCT__
and if we leav here tonight determin to turn those hope into action __PUNCT__ into a sustain commit to fight epilepsi that more than just about on fundrais or on benefit __PUNCT__ we will find a cure and we will keep hope aliv for million of famili for gener to come __PUNCT__
thank you __PUNCT__ and god bless you __PUNCT__
