[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 11, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5098-S5099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING NEVADAN JERRY CRUM

 Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize an 
outstanding Nevadan for his exemplary volunteer service to the disabled 
community both in Northern Nevada and across the United States. Jerry 
Crum has become a recognized leader through his advocacy on behalf of 
people afflicted with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, 
CFIDS. Since being diagnosed with CFIDS himself in the mid 1980's, 
Jerry has worked to increase awareness of this often misunderstood 
disease, and to improve the lives of those who suffer from it.
  Jerry was incapacitated through much of the 1980's. After several 
years in and out of hospitals, however, he made a strong, though not 
complete recovery. As his strength increased, so did his efforts to 
help others with this debilitating condition. At the same time, he also 
saw that people with other disabilities and chronic illnesses had 
encountered many of the obstacles he had. He then sought to share his 
story with others, and to teach others with disabilities how to be 
effective advocates for themselves.
  In 1990, Jerry became a charter member of the CFIDS lobbying 
organization called CACTUS. In 1992, he helped start the CFIDS 
Association of America's

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Public Policy Action Committee, and later founded ``Lobby Day,'' an 
opportunity for people with CFIDS to travel to Washington, DC to meet 
with their federal representatives and advance funding and policy needs 
of CFIDS. Since then, he has testified at a Senate hearing examining 
the affects of this illness.
  Although Jerry has always spoken on behalf of all people with 
disabilities, he specifically expanded his focus in 1998 to include 
people with lymphoma when he was diagnosed with this rare form of 
cancer himself. He became active in the Carson Advocates for Cancer and 
was the Nevada co-chair of the 1998 National Cancer March. He came to 
Washington again, and marched along-side cancer survivors such as 
Norman Schwarzkoph as they crusaded to encourage research to find a 
cure for this terrible disease.
  Jerry has been a catalyst in bringing advocates together to achieve 
victories for the disabled. I thank him for his service to Nevada and 
to all who suffer from chronic, disabling conditions such as CFIDS. He 
has made Nevada proud.

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