Natalie Harp, a victim of cancer given the Right To Try an experimental drug, spoke on the first night of the Republican National Convention on August 24, 2020.
Transcript
Good evening. I’m Natalie Harp, a formerly forgotten American from California. In the classic Jimmy Stewart film, It’s A Wonderful Life, George Bailey is given a great gift, the chance to see what the world would be like without him. Tonight, Mr. President, we’d like to give you that same gift, because without you, we’d all be living in Pottersville, sold out to a crooked mister, or I should say a crooked Mrs. Potter with no hope of escape except death itself. I should know because I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for you.
About five years ago, I was a victim of a notoriously deadly medical error. I survived, but only to be diagnosed with a rare and terminal bone cancer. The Democrats love to talk about healthcare being a human right, but a right to what? Well, I’ll tell you. To them, it’s a right to marijuana, opioids and the right to die with dignity. A politically correct way of saying assisted suicide. I was told I was a burden to my family and to my country, and that by choosing to die early, I’d actually be saving the lives of others by preserving resources for them, rather than wasting them on a lost cause like myself.
When I failed the chemotherapies that were on the market, no one wanted me in their clinical trials. I’d make them look bad. They didn’t give me the right to try experimental treatments, Mr. President. You did and without you, I’d have died waiting for them to be approved. Now with the coronavirus, everyone knows what that feels like to be waiting for a cure, but we’ve only been waiting a few months. Just imagine what 2020 would have looked like fighting for your life without Donald Trump fighting for it too.
In January, there would have been no China travel ban. Millions would have died. Millions more would have been infected for there be no record levels of testing, no right to try treatments, no fast track for a vaccine, nor operation warp speed ready to deliver it. Without Donald Trump as our patient advocate for the past four years, well, the opioid epidemic would have stolen even more lives from even more families. Kidney patients would have no future except dying on wait lists. For there be known initiative to increase donations, there’d still be no accountability at the VA. Our brave veterans would still be suffering long wait times with no choice nor access to faster care.
Insulin and other drug prices would have continued to rise while the record number of generic drugs would still be stuck in the pipeline. There’d be no price transparency. We wouldn’t have health plans up to 60% cheaper than Obamacare and we’d still be stuck with that infamous individual mandate. God forbid what the next four years would look like for in Joe Biden’s America, China would control our drug production. We’d be one step closer to government run healthcare. We wouldn’t just be unable to keep our doctors, we’d be lucky if we could see any doctor, and even then, some of us would be denied care for in socialized medicine, you don’t beat the odds, you become the odds. I would lose my right to try just like Charlie Gard, that terminally ill British baby, whose government run healthcare system decided it was too expensive and too cruel to keep him alive.
You see Mr. President, you’ve done so much more than your promises made and promises kept for numbers only tell part of the story. We are the rest of it. Facts with faces of Americans who would still be forgotten if you and our favorite first lady hadn’t given up your own wonderful life so we could have the chance at one. George Bailey’s father was right. All you can take with you is that what you’ve given away, and Mr. President, that makes you the richest man in the world for you have used your strength to make America strong again, sacrificed the life you built to make America proud again, and you risked everything to make America safe again. It’s a wonderful life. You made America great again, and on November 3rd, we are going to keep America great.
