[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 18, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK

  (Mr. SESTAK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SESTAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to say a few words about Brain 
Awareness Week. This is the week that the Society of Neuroscience 
members spread throughout America to speak about the exciting wonders 
of the mind. But in addition, like up in my district at Franklin 
Institute, they will speak about not only neuroscience, but how do we 
take care of those patients who suffer damage.
  I speak about this because as a veteran, as the Pentagon announced 
early this month, 360,000 of those 1.8 million members of our society 
who went to Iraq or Afghanistan have returned with a brain injury. The 
vast majority of them have healed and will heal, except for about 
90,000 who will have lasting damage. That's why this week is so 
important. While we have a tendency to take care of these patients, 
there is much more to be done in the treatment of their damage with the 
discovery of neurostem cells and the possibility of stem transplants to 
repair the damage.
  Again, I commend the Society of Neuroscience, particularly in this 
area of our returning veterans to help them improve their quality of 
life.

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