11-R077
2011 -- H 5421
Enacted 02/16/11
H O U S E R E S
O L U T I O N
PROCLAIMING
APRIL 25, 2011, AS MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY AWARENESS DAY IN THE STATE OF
Introduced By: Representatives Chippendale, Petrarca, Keable, Costa, and Watson
Date Introduced: February 16, 2011
WHEREAS, In support of
the Rhode Island Muscular Dystrophy Clinic and Muscular
Dystrophy Awareness, we hereby declare April 25, 2011,
to be Muscular Dystrophy Awareness
Day in the State of
WHEREAS, The term Muscular Dystrophy refers to a group of genetic
diseases marked
by progressive weakness and degeneration of the
skeletal, or voluntary, muscles which control
movement. The muscles of the heart and some other involuntary
muscles are also affected by
some forms of muscular dystrophy, and a few forms involve
other organs, as well; and
WHEREAS,
Muscular Dystrophy can affect people of all ages. While some forms first
become apparent in infancy or childhood, others may not
appear until middle age or later. With
improved medical care, particularly of problems affecting the
heart and lungs, children with
muscular dystrophy are living further into adulthood than ever
before; and
WHEREAS, The major forms of muscular dystrophy are myotonic, Duchenne, Becker,
limb girdle, facioscapulohumeral,
congenital, oculopharyngeal, distal, and Emery-Dreifuss; and
WHEREAS, The major forms of muscular dystrophy differ in severity,
age of onset,
muscles first and most often affected, the rate at which
systems progress, and the way the
disorders are inherited; and
WHEREAS,
Flaws in muscular protein genes cause muscular dystrophies. Each cell in
our bodies contains tens of thousands of genes. Each gene
is a string of the chemical DNA and is
the “code” for a protein. If the code for a protein is
wrong, the protein is made wrong, or in the
wrong amount, or sometimes not at all; and
WHEREAS, Muscular
Dystrophies are generally inherited, but in some cases no family
history of the disease may exist and, consequently, muscular
dystrophies can be inherited. It is
important for a doctor to know if anyone in the family ever had
a similar disorder and a doctor
makes a diagnosis by evaluating the patient’s medical
history and by performing a thorough
physical examination that may include costly DNA testing; and
WHEREAS, There is no cure for muscular dystrophy and its incidence
varies, as some
forms are more common than others. Its most common forms in
children, Duchenne and Becker
muscular dystrophy, alone affect approximately 1 in every
3,500 to 5,000 boys, or between 400
and 600 live male births each year in the
RESOLVED,
That this House of Representatives of the State of
Providence Plantations
hereby extends our support and gratitude to the Rhode Island Muscular
Dystrophy Clinic and its
Director, James Gilchrist, M.D., for caring for and offering hope to all
Southern New Englanders
with Muscular Dystrophy; and be it further
RESOLVED, That April 25, 2011, be declared Rhode Island Muscular Dystrophy Day;
and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is
authorized and directed to
transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Dr. James
Gilchrist, Director of the MDA clinic
located at
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LC01335
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