Jim Kelly Celebrity golf notebook
Kelly wants Obama’s help in testing issue
Published: June 02, 2009, 12:30 am
Story tools:
Share this story:
Jim Kelly is hoping to take his fight for universal newborn screening to a higher level.
The Hall of Fame quarterback and his wife, Jill, have been going state to state for years to try increase the mandatory number of tests for inherited disorders that are done on infants.
Kelly is continuing that push. But he’s also trying to make universal newborn screening a federal requirement.
“I want to go to the top; I want to go talk to Barack,” Kelly said, referring to President Obama. “That’s the bottom line. This should not be a state by state issue. This should be federally mandated to make sure that every kid gets a chance. When I go to state to state, and it’s a no-brainer, and I get nobody pushing me back, and you know it works, and everybody agrees, why isn’t it federally mandated?”
Kelly said he is working to try to get the issue on the president’s agenda.
Kelly held his big charity fund-raiser of the year, his 23rd annual golf tournament, Monday at Terry Hills Golf Course in Batavia. The event is expected to raise about $225,000 for Kelly’s two charitable organizations —Hunters Hope and the Kelly for Kids Foundation.
The decision on how many diseases newborns should be tested for still rests with each state. Hunters Hope has successfully lobbied numerous states to increase testing. New York State in 2004 increased its screening of newborns from 11 to 44 tests. The tests identify cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, protein deficiencies, heart, liver and lung ailments and many other diseases—all with one blood sample. New York also added a 45th test, for Krabbe disease, the affliction that claimed the life of Kelly’s son, Hunter.
There now are only two states that test for fewer than 29 disorders.
New Jersey just increased from 23 to 54 tests. However, only New Jersey and Minnesota test for as many as 54 disorders, which is the number recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics. So the Kellys’ fight continues.
Kelly was in Arizona in March and successfully shot down a proposed budget cut that would have reduced the number of screening tests.
“We’re meeting with the governor of the state of Texas,” Kelly said. “We’ve got Louisiana on board. We’re going to be talking to California and Missouri.”
“This has been happening every year when thousands and thousands of babies are dying,” Kelly said. “And thousands more become permanently disabled just because they’re born in the wrong state. They’re born in a state that did not test for their disease. This is not coming from me. This is coming from the College of Medical Genetics.”
•••
Bruce Smith, who is preparing for his induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, was among the celebrities at the tournament. Smith said former Bills assistant coach Ted Cottrell will be introducing him at the ceremony in Canton, Ohio. Many of the Bills from the Kelly era were in attendance. Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, another regular, also attended.
“One of the more compelling things that happened in my career was when Marv Levy hired Ted Cottrell to come in and be my position coach,” Smith said. “He taught me how to study film.”
•••
Kelly said the annual auction conducted Sunday night raised about $190,000. One of the featured items was a chance to attend the filming of an upcoming movie, “The Three Stooges,” which will star Jim Carey, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro. The film is being directed by the Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby. The top bidder for that item also will get to be an extra in the movie. The Farrelly brothers have directed such hits as “Something about Mary,” “Dumb and Dumber” and “Fever Pitch.” Kelly met them a couple years ago when he appeared in a Miller Lite beer commercial they were directing. The item drew a bid of $50,000.
“I got to know them as friends, and now we’re partners in a production company,” Kelly said.
Every year Kelly auctions off a trip to the Super Bowl. This year that item was enhanced. Roethlisberger got up in the middle of the bidding and added the spikes he wore during the Super Bowl in January and threw in the helmet he wore, autographed by himself and receiver Santonio Holmes. Holmes caught the winning TD pass in the title game. Those items drew $15,000.
mgaughan@buffnews.com
Reader comments
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Comments have been disabled.
Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News’ guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News’ opinion pages.