September 24, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 166 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Page H4896]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING MY WIFE, SHANNON, AND THE GREAT AMERICAN MEDICAL SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my 
wife, Shannon, because this is the 21st anniversary of her last 
chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed and treated for colon 
cancer in 1999.
  This is a day that we will all remember. It is the day of success, 
much different from the day of her diagnosis just a little over 6 
months before that.
  We were a young couple with a 2-year-old daughter and didn't know 
what the future held. But because of the great American medical system 
and the research that was done out here at places like the NIH for 
years before my wife was diagnosed, she was able to get the surgery and 
the treatment she needed to now celebrate this anniversary.
  On that last day, when that poisonous chemotherapy stopped having to 
enter her veins, little did we know we would be blessed with two more 
children, twin boys, just a short time later. They were born less than 
a year from then.
  While our daughter is now 23 and our sons are 20, this is an 
opportunity to talk about the greatness of America's healthcare system 
and the greatness of the ingenuity within our healthcare system in this 
country.
  What is frustrating to me, Mr. Speaker, is that sometimes I hear my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about how we on this 
side of the aisle want to get rid of preexisting conditions coverage. 
Every time I hear that, it hurts because I have seen what my wife went 
through. I live, she lives, and our family lives with her preexisting 
coverage every day.
  Let's stop playing politics with healthcare. Let's celebrate what 
America is all about and how we help heal the world. Let's do it today, 
the day that I get to honor the love of my life, my wife, Shannon.
  Shannon, I can't thank you enough for who you are. I can't thank you 
enough for your courage. And I am so blessed to be able to call you my 
wife.

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