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"Hope for Treatment of Bipolar Disorder"Thank you so very much, Ralph Babb (President and Chief Executive Officer of Comerica Incorporated and Comerica Bank), for those very kind words of introduction. I'm so very pleased to be here … to see my dear friend Wally (Prechter) … and Heinz's and Wally's wonderful children, Paul and Stephanie. You are special to me and to my wife Sue Ann. At the outset, I want to thank Wally for her brave and eloquent testimony before Congress in May. Wally, I applaud your passion, your courage and your compassion. On behalf of your country, I thank you deeply for it. It's always good to see my friend Governor John Engler, who will soon join me as a former Governor. John, take it from someone who's been there, there is life after the state house. It probably will be a shock when you wake up and realize that the only buttons you can push are on an elevator … the only pull you have is on your fishing line ... and the only bills you deal with are for electricity, water and gas. But I know whatever you do, you'll do a great job, just as you have as one of the most successful governors in recent American history. And I also know how much Heinz meant to you, John, and I appreciate your hosting this wonderful event this evening. It's truly wonderful to see so many people at this beautiful gala. It's obvious from your presence here tonight that Heinz Prechter touched us all in a special way. Heinz was a man of great personal kindness. He was a loving husband and a devoted father. He possessed extraordinary energy and bold, creative vision. He was a risk-taker who availed himself of the tremendous opportunities this country offers, and he had an inventive, agile mind. When it came to business, Heinz was simply amazing. He started with a few dollars in the early 1960s and eventually employed more than 5,000 people. He built his business the old-fashioned way - with courage, tenacity, integrity and ability. He did well because he provided a good product that people wanted at an affordable price. My friends, there's nothing more American than that. Heinz was also a patriot. He loved his adopted homeland fervently. As many of you know, I am an American of German descent, and I want to tell all of you that Heinz Prechter made me feel very proud of my own heritage … and, even more, of what America has meant to immigrants from around the world. But there's another aspect of Heinz's life I haven't mentioned. Heinz was also someone who suffered. His bipolar disorder eventually took his life. It is still hard for me to say those words. How could someone as full of life and good cheer as Heinz be taken from us so suddenly and so sadly? The same question could be asked about someone who died suddenly of a heart attack or who drowned at a summer picnic. In other words, mental illness is as devastating as any other illness or unexpected injury. And, let me underscore, it is an illness - a malady as real as any other kind of disease. Mental illness strikes men and women of all ages and races, in every walk of life. Historians have concluded that Abraham Lincoln experienced at least one and probably two nervous breakdowns. Winston Churchill was plagued all his life by depression - he called it his "black dog." Sir Winston even refused to live in a high-rise building for fear that, one day, he would throw himself off the balcony. My friend Mike Wallace of "Sixty Minutes" has battled depression for years, and has said publicly that he still fights against it now into his eighties. Manic depression, or bipolar disorder, afflicts more than 2 million Americans aged 18 and older. It is a brain disorder - not an arbitrary mood swing, a brain disorder - that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. A fourth of those with bipolar disorder attempt suicide at least once, with two percent killing themselves each year. The disorder cuts one's life expectancy by 10 years and shortens productive adult life by eight years. It consumes a fifth of the money spent to treat mental illness. Manic depression is utterly debilitating if untreated. Here's how one sufferer described what bipolar disorder feels like: "I doubt completely my ability to do anything well. It seems as though my mind has slowed down and burned out to the point of being virtually useless. I am haunted with the total, the desperate hopelessness of it all. Others say, 'It's only temporary, it will pass, you will get over it,' but of course they haven't any idea of how I feel, although they are certain they do. If I can't feel, move, think or care, then what on earth is the point?" Some of you here this evening might well have felt this way. But I'm here to tell you, as Secretary of Health and Human Services, that there's hope - real, practical, science-based, effective help. And it's help we in the Bush Administration are absolutely committed to providing and advancing. For example, last year the National Institute of Mental Health initiated a strategic research plan for studies of mood disorders, predominantly major depression and bipolar disorder. Over the course of 18 months, Institute staff, working with 130 scientists and public representatives, analyzed the most current knowledge and research on mood disorders in ten broad areas of science ranging from genetics to service delivery. They have outlined the steps to be taken to advance our understanding of the brain, human behavior and the specific pathology involved in depression and bipolar disorders, as well as goals for developing new treatments and improving access to effective help. The plan was approved by the National Advisory Mental Health Council in May 2002. It's been published on our HHS Web site and it will be available next month in hard copy to health care providers, counselors and patients. I bring this up, in part, because Wally very bravely contributed Heinz's story to this study as an example of how bipolar disorder affects individual and family life. And now, as a member of President Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, Wally is once again a profile in courage. There's more good news, as well. The National Institute of Mental Health has undertaken a $23 million, five-year grant study of bipolar disorder - the largest such study ever mounted. It includes 2,400 current patients in at 18 sites across the country. It will eventually enroll 5,000 people and will help us understand every facet of the disorder and how we can better treat it. On the treatment side, researchers are looking for new approaches and have used tamoxifen, which is more commonly used in breast cancer prevention, to treat mania. There have been encouraging and quick responses for patients with mania Although this drug itself won't become a treatment for mania, this research finding has led to new possibilities for treatment of manic depression. So, we have great reason to hope as we face the future. The progress we're making in combating mental illness is real. As I mentioned earlier, Heinz emigrated from Germany. He was one of along line of Germans who came to this country. In fact, the first people of German heritage who came to what was then the unexplored region of North America arrived in 1608, nearly 400 years ago. So let me close with a story about one young German couple named Carl and Margarethe Schurz, who came to the United States in the 1850s. They settled in my home state of Wisconsin. Margarethe Schurz began what became the first Kindergarten in the United States. And her husband Carl went on to become minister to Spain, a distinguished general in the Union Army, a close advisor to President Lincoln and Secretary of the Interior under President Grant. Like Heinz and Wally Prechter, Carl and Margarethe Schurz knew something about pursuing their dreams and following a set of deeply held principles. As Carl Schurz put it, and I quote: "Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean … you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny." That, my friends, is the true legacy of Heinz Prechter - a life lived fully, in pursuit of his ideals and dreams, a life of love and hope and inspiration. And it continues to be the gift of Wally, even this tonight, right here in this room. Wally, Paul and Stephanie, we're all proud of you, and we love you. Thank you for all you are doing and, most importantly, thank you for sharing Heinz with all of us. I can think of few greater gifts to me personally or to our country. May God bless you all. Last Revised: October 08, 2002 |
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