[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 146 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RETINAL DEGENERATIVE DISEASES TAKING THE SIGHT OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks and include therein 
extraneous material.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, every day I look around me at all the 
beautiful things I am lucky enough to see, the faces of the people I 
love, the words on the pages of a book I read, and I think of the 
living angels who are working to help me and my sister and brother keep 
this most precious gift of all, our sight.
  As I read the note that Ilana Lidsky sent to me, I thought of how 
blessed Ilana's, Carlos and Betti Lidsky, are to have such caring and 
brave children who in the midst of adversity see the value of all that 
is truly important in life. Ilana, Daria and Isaac Lidsky, three of 
Carlos and Betti's children are afflicted with retinal degenerative 
diseases, a group of diseases with no current treatment which is taking 
the sights of millions of Americans who, like the Lidsky children, have 
great hopes and dreams for their future.
  While we work toward a cure, Mr. Speaker, we can learn much from the 
Lidskys about courage, hope and unconditional love. They exemplify 
loving what is truly precious about having a loving family that 
recognizes, as Betti Lidsky once wrote to me, that in spite of the 
challenges life is most beautiful. For the Lidskys and the millions of 
Americans who, like them, wait for a cure, let us do all we can to help 
them in this battle.

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