As part of the President’s presentation at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Vice President Joe Biden and Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in a film that surprised the people at the dinner and rock social media. Watch the full video.
VP Biden Addresses CURE Gala
David & Susan Axelrod with daughter Lauren and NPR's Peter Sagal
Vice President Joseph Biden shared his deeply personal story of brain trauma at the annual Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) fundraising gala on Tuesday. He told the Chicago crowd gathered at Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom about the life-threatening aneurysm and two subsequent seizures he suffered in 1988. Biden called epilepsy “a terrible lightning storm in the brain.”
“It’s amazing what we don’t know about how the brain functions,” Biden said. “For the first time in human history, significant resources and human capital are being applied to unlock how to catch that lightning.” REUTERS has more on the story.
CURE was founded in 1998 by Susan Axelrod, wife of former White House senior Adviser David Axelrod, and other parents frustrated with their inability to protect their children from the devastation of seizures and the side effects of medications. The Axelrod’s daughter, Lauren, lives with the disease.
“There is no lonelier feeling — and many of you have experienced it — when you know your child has a chronic illness which can’t be controlled,” David Axelrod explained.
Epilepsy affects over 3 million Americans of all ages and some 50 million people worldwide. It can develop at any age and may be a result of head injury, brain tumor, stroke and many other unknown causes.
“I can only image what it’s like to stare at your child while their eyes roll back in their head,” Biden said, quoted in The Chicago Tribune. “But the truth is, I believe with every fiber of my being that (a cure) is just around the corner.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn were among the 900 people attending the gala that raised almost $800,000 for the nonprofit organization. In addition to the Vice President’s keynote speech, the event featured Peter Sagal, Host of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.” Since its founding, CURE has raised $15 million to fund epilepsy research and has has awarded over 107 cutting-edge projects.
More information about CURE can be found at cureepilepsy.org. WHCI is proud to support the work of CURE and if you would like to donate, please click HERE. The video below premiered at the annual CURE gala and features poignant, personal stories of families who have battled epilepsy.
Graham Moore Plays the Vice President's House
Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden brought together a small gathering of friends, family and media at the Vice President’s residence to celebrate FLOTUS Chief of Staff Susan Sher’s son, Graham Moore, on the publication of his first novel, The Sherlockian, a twist on the Sherlock Holmes characters.
It was a family affair with Moore’s younger brother Evan, Sher’s husband Judge Neil Cohen, and grandfather – young and spry at 92 – Dr. Charles Steiner. Vice President Biden told Moore how Sher told everyone at the White House about her son the novelist and his brother, Evan, a music executive.
The residence glowed with holiday decorations and cheer spread through the intimate crowd as Sher remarked The Sherlockian would make a great Chanukkah or Christmas gift! Friends and fans gathered to greet Christopher Hitchens who helped the first time author and wrote a back cover blurb praising the book. Moore told WHCInsider how proud he is to have ” the great writer Christopher Hitchens as a friend and supporter.”
Also seen: Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, Robin Sproul, Amy and Rome Hartman, Claire Shipman and Jay Carney, Courtney O’Donnell, Kathy Russell, Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. SELF‘s new Washington Editor Marc Adelman must have been telling the Vice President a laugh riot joke because he was shaking with laughter.
The Sherlockian is published by TWELVE, the home of the great Christophers – Hitchens and Buckley. For more about the book, check out Graham Moore’s web site thesherlockian.com.