Letter about Funding at the NIH

Today I did some letter writing advocacy for the Arthritis Foundation.  Below is my letter to:

• Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 8th)

 Please Continue Arthritis Research at the NIH

I'm your constituent and I dream of a future free from arthritis pain. Please fund the National Institutes of Health in Fiscal Year 2012 at $35 billion, the minimum needed to sustain the current level of research and account for inflation. 

Public investment in biomedical research holds the real promise of improving the lives of millions of Americans with arthritis - an unacceptable disease that costs our nation $128 billion annually.

Every morning I wake up and dread putting my feet on the floor.  I know the pain that I am going to feel, the burning and the searing.  But I have to get up and walk.  Then come the hands - the stiffness in my hands.  Making my hands work the way I want them to; the way I need them to in order to do the simplest tasks: holding the toothbrush to brush my teeth, holding the brush to brush my hair, clasping the faucet to turn on the shower, and holding the shampoo.  These are all actions I used to take for granted; I don't anymore.  Each task can cause pain or can mean my hand doesn't work and I drop the brush, the shampoo bottle.  Then I have to bend my stiff body to pick it up.  Arthritis isn't just one pain or one stiff muscle or joint, it feels like Pinocchio trying to walk every morning.

Arthritis limits the activities of 21 million Americans and I am just one of them.  So please support arthritis research and continue the ground-breaking Juvenile Arthritis initiative by funding the National Institutes of Health at $35 billion in FY 2012. That is the minimum needed to sustain the current level of research and account for inflation.

Biomedical research holds the real promise of improving the lives of millions of Americans with arthritis. An investment in research is an investment in our nation’s future. It is an investment in MY FUTURE!

Sincerely,

Adrienne

If you are interested in writing a letter to get more funding for a disease that affects me and 21 million of my closest friends, please use the link below to send a letter.  There is a letter already written so you can send that or add whatever you want to that letter.

Send a Letter