He has used his name to get legislation passed to save lives.
WASHINGTON — Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly was praised Tuesday as a leader who transformed a tragedy — the death of his son, Hunter — into a national movement to medically screen all newly born children.
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chris Dodd, and Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds joined Kelly and his wife, Jill, to mark Tuesday’s House passage of legislation Kelly has sought for almost a decade.
The legislation creates national standards for screening newborns, provides $15 million a year for information programs and $5 million to evaluate the screening programs, and creates a national advisory committee on ailments that newborns and children can inherit from their parents.
“Through this legislation,” Kelly said, “we’re going to change the lives of thousands of kids.”
Hunter Kelly died in 2005, at age 8, from Krabbe’s disease, a progressive nervous system disorder. Jim Kelly said he did not find out his son had the illness until he was four months old. The Kellys sought a medical examination after their son “cried 22 hours out of every 24.”
Had Hunter been diagnosed for the ailment at birth, his life might have been saved.
Clinton, D-N.Y., said the bill, which has passed the Senate, advances work begun in 1957 by the late Dr. Robert Guthrie of Buffalo, who was a faculty member of the University of Buffalo Medical School.
WASHINGTON — Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly was praised Tuesday as a leader who transformed a tragedy — the death of his son, Hunter — into a national movement to medically screen all newly born children.
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chris Dodd, and Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds joined Kelly and his wife, Jill, to mark Tuesday’s House passage of legislation Kelly has sought for almost a decade.
The legislation creates national standards for screening newborns, provides $15 million a year for information programs and $5 million to evaluate the screening programs, and creates a national advisory committee on ailments that newborns and children can inherit from their parents.
“Through this legislation,” Kelly said, “we’re going to change the lives of thousands of kids.”
Hunter Kelly died in 2005, at age 8, from Krabbe’s disease, a progressive nervous system disorder. Jim Kelly said he did not find out his son had the illness until he was four months old. The Kellys sought a medical examination after their son “cried 22 hours out of every 24.”
Had Hunter been diagnosed for the ailment at birth, his life might have been saved.
Clinton, D-N.Y., said the bill, which has passed the Senate, advances work begun in 1957 by the late Dr. Robert Guthrie of Buffalo, who was a faculty member of the University of Buffalo Medical School.
Comment