One of my favorite young activists
Earlier this session I told you about my young friend, Maddie Goldberg, a 4th grader at Reform Jewish Academy in St. Louis, who I am training to replace me in the state legislature once she grows up.
Maddie just returned from her very first trip to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress on epilepsy awareness and emailed me about her trip:
Dear Representative Newman,
I just got back from Washington D.C! It was a great trip and an amazing experience. The first day, we did the the National Epilepsy Walk. I also attended two days of advocacy training and had a group dinner.
I met a lot of kids with interesting stories. One girl was having so many seizures, she decided to have brain surgery to stop her from having all of these seizures so they took out half of her brain which also paralyzed half of her body. It was the only option she had. She is the star volleyball player on her volleyball team so that proves that she can do everything a kid without her circumstances can do! If you want to know more about her, go to the OliviaDavisFoundation.com.
On Capitol Hill day, I met with Senator Roy Blunt, Congresswoman JoAnn Emerson, and several more aids to support the RAISE Act (Raising Awareness and Insight for Seizures and Epilepsy.) It will train first responders, teachers and nurses how to recognize and deal with a seizure.
I had a great trip and if you want to know more, you can email me!
Sincerely,
Maddie Goldberg
