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Miss Utah fights for brain-injury funds
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Pitch to Congress: She wants to double proposed $7M in Bush budget for soldiers with head injuries.
Far from the runway, Miss Utah lobbied Congress this week to increase spending on U.S. soldiers who suffer brain injuries overseas and to restore money President Bush wants cut from programs for research and treatment of brain injuries.
"I call on Congress and urge them to provide support to us and those men and women who are recovering from traumatic brain injuries," said Amy Davis, Miss Utah 2004.
Davis' visit came as part of a lobbying effort by advocates trying to restore funding for brain injury programs. She is the national spokeswoman for the Brain Injury Association of America. President Bush has proposed eliminating $9.3 million for the research, awareness and prevention programs funded under the Traumatic Brain Injury Act. "As of now, there's not one penny dedicated to this silent epidemic," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force. Backers are also seeking to double the $7 million proposed in the Bush budget for the Defense and Veterans Head Injury Program, which is meant for treatment of soldiers who have suffered brain injuries. The money is needed, said Pascrell, because of the number of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan having suffered head injuries due to improvised explosive devices.
"Their injuries are coming in defense of all of us, but the silver lining is the focus it brings to traumatic brain injuries," said task force co-chairman Rep. Todd Russell Platts, R-Pa. "As victims of traumatic brain injuries, they are helping us to advance the awareness of this issue."
Davis suffered a fractured skull, a severe concussion and frontal lobe bruising four years ago when she was dropped and her head hit the concrete while practicing a cheerleading stunt. Doctors told her parents she might not live, but she recovered and returned to school three weeks later. She was not prepared, however, for the depression, balance and coordination problems and mood swings that came with the injury. Davis was able to finish the music and theater program at Weber State University. Last June, she won the Miss Utah pageant and, as part of the lead-up to the Miss America pageant in September, visited soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital.
Robert Gehrke is a staff reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune.
Reprinted with permission. 2005 Copyright Salt Lake Tribune.