Stem Cell Therapeutic And Research Reauthorization Act Of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2820, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2015, introduced by my colleagues Chris Smith and Doris Matsui.

Bone marrow transplantation has been used for more than 50 years to treat blood-related diseases, such as leukemia, different anemias, and lymphoma. It is a rich source of blood stem cells. In more recent years, breakthroughs have been made using blood stem cells from umbilical cord blood in the treatment of those various blood-related diseases and conditions.

It can be very difficult to find a bone marrow transplant match, and in some cases, cord blood can be used instead. Bone marrow and cord blood donation are critical to ensure those in need of transplant can find a match. The need for this lifesaving transplantation has risen 25 percent since 2005.

H.R. 2820 reauthorizes the National Marrow Donor Program and creates a national network of public cord blood banks. The legislation also provides healthcare professionals the ability to search for bone marrow and umbilical cord blood units for transplantation.

H.R. 2820 also bolsters patient and advocacy services; provides for public and professional education; and collects, analyzes, and reports data on transplant outcomes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close with a quick story.

There is a good friend of mine. His name is Philip Schardein, and I am great friends with his family. He went off to play golf in college--great athlete. All of a sudden, he came down with leukemia, and I remember that there were some issues at first about his sister being able to donate bone marrow.

So my town, Bowling Green, Kentucky, organized a bone marrow drive to see if anybody could match Philip Schardein. I have probably never been more proud to call myself a resident of the hometown of Bowling Green than that day. I remember going three times, and it was so overwhelmed with volunteers trying to have their bone marrow, the blood type, to see if they matched, that it just overwhelmed the system.

I remember finally getting through late in the afternoon, and people waited all day to see if they could match and help Philip Schardein. And God bless, for whatever reason his sister couldn't donate, it turned out that she could donate, and he is a healthy person now with family and children, and everything is going well.

But just about a year after that, I was in Holiday World with my family. I was having a day with them. My cell phone rang, and it turned out I had matched, because of going to get my bone marrow tested, or my blood tested, that I matched someone. The lady got on the phone, and she told me what it takes to be a donor and, Will you be willing to move forward? I said, Of course.

I remember the reason I said I was at Holiday World was because I remember standing there going, here I am with my family having fun, laughing and having a great afternoon, and there is some family somewhere that is anonymous, not having the same experience, probably trying to figure out if their loved one is going to live or survive or what is going to be the prognosis.

So I went through the process, and I remember going through, having my blood taken and several of the steps. Just getting close to the actual time to do the bone marrow transplant, for whatever reason, we got notified that it wasn't going forward. It could do that for many reasons. One, hopefully, is the anonymous person was cured or the prognosis was better, or maybe a sibling or something matched like it did for Philip Schardein.

But I've often wondered about the life on the other end, because they don't tell you for reason of anonymity, and it is just something that has always weighed on my mind. Even sitting here and getting ready to close, I was thinking about who was on the other end, and I hope that they have a good story, as well as Philip Schardein.

But what I want to stress is how important it is that families in need and worry and wondering what is going to happen with their loved ones, and the loved ones themselves, and this is something we can do. It was a little thing that I was able to do, that we all were able to do in my community, and people across this country can do to try to help people live long and fruitful lives.

Our prayers were answered with Philip Schardein, and this is an opportunity for us to come together, in a bipartisan way, as all the bills were.

I want to close with this. We have been through four bills in the last hour, and they are dealing with touching families, and every one of them has been bipartisan. We have been able to come together and find where we agree and work together, that we can work for infants, for families suffering with leukemia and other blood disorders, for infants with opioid addiction, for parents who have children with early hearing detection, and that is where we have been able to come together and work together.

I appreciate the effort of Ranking Member Green in bringing us all together, and our subcommittee chairman, Mr. Pitts.

I look forward to voting for this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 2820. I appreciate my friend, Mr. Smith, for bringing it forward.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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