Submitted Resolutions

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased to submit, along with my colleague, Senator HERB KOHL, a resolution to designate the week of September 13-19, 2009 as National Polycystic Kidney Disease Awareness Week.

Polycystic kidney disease, or PKD, is a life-threatening, genetic disease of which most Americans are probably unaware. According to the PKD Foundation, PKD affects 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million children and adults worldwide. There is no treatment or cure, but it is our hope that, with this resolution, a National PKD Awareness Week will promote public awareness and education of this devastating disease.

PKD is one of the four leading causes of kidney failure, which also called end-stage renal disease, ESRD, PKD is characterized by the growth of numerous fluid-filled cysts in the kidney, which slowly reduce the kidney function and can eventually lead to kidney failure. Some cysts in individuals with PKD have reportedly grown to the size of a football. When PKD causes kidneys to fail, the patient requires dialysis or kidney transplantation. About one-half of people with the major type of PKD progress to kidney failure.

PKD is of particular interest to me because so many Utahns suffer from this disease. The PKD Foundation claims that approximately 5,000 individuals in Utah live with PKD, and that the incidence of end-stage renal disease in Utah is three times that of the national average. To cure PKD could result in billions of dollars in savings to the military, Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration for dialysis, transplantation and related treatments.

To promote greater understanding of this destructive genetic disease, Senator Kohl and I have introduced this resolution to designate a National Polycystic Kidney Disease Awareness Week, and I urge our colleagues to support it.

Source