[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 35 (Thursday, March 15, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRATULATIONS TO GEORGE BATCHELOR, FOUNDER OF THE BATCHELOR 
                           CHILDREN'S CENTER

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my 
constituent, George Batchelor, for his wonderful philanthropy and 
generosity in founding the Batchelor Children's Center, a state-of-the-
art facility housing the University of Miami's bench and clinical 
research programs in childhood diseases.
  As one of only a handful of children's research centers in the 
Nation, the Batchelor Children's Center will enable an unprecedented 
collaboration among scientists. Scheduled to open in May, 2001, it will 
attract the best scientific minds and provide an atmosphere conducive 
to finding cures and treatments for cystic fibrosis, for cancer, 
leukemia, and other diseases plaguing children.
  George Batchelor's son, Falcon, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 
the age of 14. Specialists projected that Falcon would only live to age 
17; but George, refusing to accept that, began bringing his son to the 
University of Miami's cystic fibrosis center. Falcon lived to be 35, 
and George said that the 20 quality years he spent with Falcon after 
his first visit to UM was a gift that he will never be able to repay.
  Today I pay tribute to George for returning the gift of health for 
his son with the gift of hope for parents and their suffering children.

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