88R23711 BHH-F By: Oliverson H.R. No. 1213 R E S O L U T I O N WHEREAS, Aromatic L-Amino Acid Decarboxylase (AADC) Deficiency Awareness Day is being observed to focus attention on this rare disease and to help educate the community, physicians, and specialists about its symptoms to facilitate early detection; and WHEREAS, AADC Deficiency is a rare genetic neurological disease, and there have been approximately 200 cases of AADC Deficiency reported worldwide; and WHEREAS, AADC Deficiency is a life-limiting, severely debilitating condition that significantly impacts a patient's development, motor skills, growth, cognition, and language skills; and WHEREAS, The disease results from an inherited genetic mutation that causes patients to lack the AADC enzyme that is required to create dopamine; without dopamine, patients can never achieve motor milestones like holding their heads up, sitting, and standing and are unable to develop the ability to communicate or to meet the most basic of life's needs; and WHEREAS, Patients with AADC Deficiency often have low muscle tone that is unexplained and does not improve; such patients also suffer from involuntary eye movements and developmental delays; AADC Deficiency is often mistaken for other diseases like cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or autism; and WHEREAS, Patients are diagnosed with AADC Deficiency through genetic and other biochemical tests; and WHEREAS, AADC Deficiency Awareness Day serves as a vital means of helping inform the public and the medical community about the condition, and this awareness can help patients who may be experiencing the symptoms of AADC to receive appropriate treatment; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas Legislature hereby recognize AADC Deficiency Awareness Day and encourage Texans to learn more about the disease.