Ronald Reagan

“ Through the combined efforts of the Federal government's National Institutes of Health, private voluntary agencies, and researchers at medical centers and universities across the country, we are making inroads toward explaining the mysteries of cystic fibrosis. While the disease once was almost invariably fatal in infancy and early childhood, innovations in diagnosis and treatment over the past 20 years have virtually doubled the average age of survival of its victims. For example, half of the children born with cystic fibrosis can now expect to live to age 21. ”

“ In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth. ”

“ While people with cystic fibrosis are embarking on careers and assuming societal responsibilities to a greater extent than ever before, they do so in the shadow of a disease that remains progressively debilitating. ”