Former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason will be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for his work in promoting ALS research and education.
The House unanimously passed bipartisan legislation to award Gleason with the Congressional Gold Medal.
The Senate unanimously passed the bill in June, and it now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
The Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act recognizes Gleason for his work through the Gleason Initiative Foundation to provide individuals with neuromuscular diseases or injuries with the assistance they need to thrive.
The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow.
Gleason responded with a statement via Twitter on Thursday saying, “I am honored, and accept the Congressional Gold Medal for all the families who have been diagnosed with ALS, as well as anyone struggling to overcome life’s inevitable adversities.”
The full statement can be read below.
My statement on the Congressional Gold Medal.
-SG pic.twitter.com/ExS09rqvP6— Steve Gleason (@TeamGleason) December 21, 2018
Previous recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Edison, Robert Frost, Bob Hope, Walt Disney, Roberto Clemente, Sir Winston Churchill, John Wayne, the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympic Team, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Ruth and Billy Graham, Frank Sinatra, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus.
