This has happened before.

Last year, my mother testified in Olympia about how her ex-husband shot her in 2012, and the bill we supported made it through the House, through the Senate committee, and all the way to the floor of the Senate, just to have the gun lobby pull the rug out from under our feet and table the bill.

We can’t let this happen again. House Bill 1840 would make it illegal for anyone subject to an order of protection to own a firearm and would save so many lives.

Last Wednesday, my mother and I both testified again in support of House Bill 1840 and we cannot tell you how much all the support we’ve received has meant to us.

We don’t want this type of preventable gun violence to happen to any other families. We have to make sure the bill passes this time.

And we’re very, very close — the state Senate is voting on the bill sometime in the next few days. It would be a historic moment for reducing gun violence.

I wrote to you last week about my mother, who was shot by her husband of twenty years. I know that HB 1840 would help us make sure that what happened to my mother won’t happen to others.

But to make sure the gun lobby doesn’t pull any more eleventh-hour tricks, we need to keep the pressure on the state Senate — and we don’t have much time.

Urge the state Senate to vote yes on HB 1840, and tell them to put the lives of Washington citizens first.

By Fri‌day, we’ll know whether we’ve taken a historic step forward to protect victims of domestic abuse and made our communities and families safer — or if the gun lobby has sunk yet another commonsense measure to protect lives.

A victory this week would show the world that our work is paying off, and that we’re changing the culture in Olympia.

You can help us make sure that this time the bill passes, and that what happened to my mother doesn’t happen again here in Washington.

Thank you,

Rory Graves

It was New Year’s Eve in 2009 when my helmet saved my life.

Training for the Winter Olympics in Utah, I was at the top of competitive snowboarding when I suffered a life-threatening traumatic brain injury that I’m still recovering from to this day. And while I can never snowboard competitively again, I hope to be a voice for the millions of Americans who grapple with diseases of the brain.

Until my injury, I didn’t spend too much time thinking about my brain, but in the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about the engine that drives our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

I’ve learned that in my battle to recover from this devastating injury, I am not alone. Researchers estimate that around 100 million Americans suffer from brain disorders at some point in their lives. From Alzheimer’s to autism and ALS all the way to traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic depression, diseases of the brain are not only catastrophic, they are common.

That’s why the President’s BRAIN Initiative — an all-hands-on-deck effort to understand the human brain and enable the tools, techniques, and technologies that can improve scientists’ ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent neurological diseases — is personal for me.

Learn more about the initiative here — and if you or someone you know stands to benefit from this sort of research, tell that story here.

Since my injury, I’ve learned that the human brain remains one of the greatest mysteries in science. Decades of neuroscience have revealed much about how the brain works, but the great majority of the brain’s activity, involving about 100 trillion neural connections, remains uncharted.

That’s changing quickly. Since the President announced the BRAIN Initiative last year, the research community, federal agencies, foundations, patient advocacy groups, private research institutes, companies, scientific societies, and individual scientists have committed more than $300 million to this bold effort to capture a dynamic image of the human brain, similar to the one that mapped the human genome.

The goals of the BRAIN Initiative are ambitious, but they’re achievable.

Imagine if no family had to grapple with the helplessness and heartache of a loved one with Parkinson’s, or TBI, or PTSD. Imagine if Alzheimer’s, or ALS, or chronic depression were eradicated in our lifetime. Imagine if we played a role in those breakthroughs.

That’s why I’ve worked so hard on connecting, educating, and empowering around brain health, and to tell the story about how much the brain can improve, adapt, heal, and grow. And that’s why I’m so excited to lend my voice to these efforts to help catalyze the next generation of treatments for brain diseases. Though my voice may be more public than most, I know that so many Americans have loved ones that have battled brain disorders just as I have.

If you want to make your voice heard, share your story at WhiteHouse.gov/BRAIN.

I may never get to stand on the Olympic podium, but I’m thrilled to stand with the scientists and students, researchers and citizens on the edge of the next great frontier — unlocking and understanding the three pounds of matter that sit between our ears.

Sincerely,

Kevin Pearce
Carlsbad, California