Mike and Nicole Cimbura at the bill signing of the Right to Try Legislation
Today, President Trump signed into law a piece of legislation that terminally ill patients and their families have pursued for some time – and Colorado’s Cimbura family was at the White House to witness the signing of legislation that they have fought to pass for years.
Mike Cimbura is a Highlands Ranch man who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It’s a neurodegenerative disease for which there currently is no cure. The average life expectancy for someone diagnosed with ALS, at the time of diagnosis, is just two to five years. Cimbura was diagnosed with the disease in 2015. Learn more about Cimbura’s journey with ALS and his determination to find a cure or treatment in the op-ed written by his children, Ellie and Aiden, in the Denver Post.
Cimbura was joined at the White House by his wife, Nicole Cimbura. The Cimbura family was invited to the White House for the bill signing by Vice President Mike Pence.
Under the new legislation, terminally ill patients have the right to seek drug treatments that have passed Phase I of the FDA’s approval process, but haven’t been fully approved by the FDA yet. Unfortunately, the approval process could take as long as ten to 15 years. That’s time many terminally ill patients simply don’t have.
Kudos to the U.S. House for taking up this important legislation from the Senate, co-sponsored by Colorado U.S. Senator Cory Gardner. The only member of the Colorado delegation to vote against the legislation was Denver’s Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette. Shame on her.