Proclamation 5786

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Each year, up to 1.8 million Americans, most of them under age 30, suffer head injuries; and more than 50,000 survivors of such injuries will experience long-term physical and mental difficulties and often need extended care and rehabilitation in returning to productive lives. Advances in medical treatment now save the lives of many people with severe head injuries; improvements in long-term rehabilitation need to continue.

Run to Daylight, a nonprofit organization concerned with improving rehabilitation for survivors of head injuries, is sponsoring a 3,600-mile run across the United States this year-the "Run to Daylight." This event will begin in San Francisco on April 1 and end in Boston on June 30.

The "Run to Daylight" will remind Americans about the rehabilitation needs of survivors of head injuries and will help the National Head Injury Foundation, which is dedicated to improving life for survivors of head injuries and their families and to developing and supporting programs to prevent such injuries.

The Congress, by Public Law 100-268, has designated April 1, 1988, as "Run to Daylight Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this occasion.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim April 1, 1988, as Run to Daylight Day. I urge the people of the United States to learn more about head injuries; to foster appropriate efforts to discover more effective ways to prevent and treat head injuries and rehabilitate head injured persons; and to aid head injury victims and their families who suffer the severe physical, psychological, and financial burdens of such injuries.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twelfth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:13 a.m., March 31, 1988]

The members of the Run to Daylight team that ran from San Francisco to Boston included Doug Walker, Doug Dehart, Jameson Cahill and a golden retriever named Tango. They averaged 40 miles per day and slept in a RV that traveled with them. Two of thier sponsors, Pizza Hut and PowerBar provided most of thier sustenance.