[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 6, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING DENNIS JOHN BENIGNO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BILL PASCRELL, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 6, 2024

  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the inspiring 
life of Dennis John Benigno. A resident of the City of Clifton, Dennis 
John was debilitated by a traumatic brain injury when he was fifteen 
years old. The injury that befell Dennis John would have crushed weaker 
spirits. But instead of shrinking, Dennis John and his family used it 
to change the world.
  Back in 1984 when Dennis John suffered his injury, few people 
anywhere knew about Traumatic Brain Injury. Information was sparse, 
even among doctors. The knowledge gap was enormous. Dennis John helped 
change all of that. The Benigno family drive was tireless, the founding 
of the Coalition for Brain Injury Research a watershed.
  I first met Dennis John when I was running for Congress in 1996. His 
story inspired me to learn more about the issue and advocate for people 
with brain injuries. It is thanks to Dennis John's inspiration that I 
founded, alongside my friend Former Representative Jim Greenwood (R-
PA), the bipartisan Congressional Brain Injury Task Force in 2001. At 
first, you could fit our caucus members into a phone book. Now, there 
are dozens of members on our task force.
  For 23 years, the task force has brought together thousands of 
families, advocates, and doctors. We have enacted laws, created 
policies, won hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, made 
important connections and told countless stories. These are people who 
would have never met and laws that would have never passed had it not 
been for Dennis John Benigno. Other accident victims, military 
servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, those participating in 
youth sports, and millions of people across the spectrum helped because 
the Congress was aware and ready to support our TBI victims.
  Regrettably, Dennis John passed away on January 24, 2024. It is true 
that we have yet to find the TBI cure we have prayed for, and I have 
deep regret for that. But when people cynically say no one person can 
make any difference in our world, they are wrong. They did not know 
Dennis John Benigno. So, while we mourn a life lost, we celebrate 
something even bigger a life that lifted up so many others by sheer 
power and love.
  Today, we are hosting Brain Injury Day on Capitol Hill. Hundreds of 
brain injury victims, advocates, and caregivers from across the nation 
have come to Washington to educate Congress on the steps we can take to 
fund and support care for brain injury victims as we fight for a cure. 
This year's Brain Injury Day is in honor of Dennis John Benigno's life. 
I do not know if I would be here fighting for this worthy cause if not 
for Dennis John's inspiration.
  The House sends its condolences to Dennis John's parents, Dennis and 
Rosalind Benigno, his sister Kim Lyons, her husband William, as well as 
his aunts, uncles, nephews, and cousins. May God bless Dennis John 
Benigno. God bless his entire family. And God bless America.

                          ____________________