Frequently Searched

Right to Try Champion Honored with 2019 Goldwater Freedom Award

November 27, 2019

November 27, 2019

Former U.S. Navy pilot and Right to Try advocate Matt Bellina was honored with the Goldwater Institute’s Freedom Award at the Goldwater Annual Dinner on November 8, 2019. Below are his dinner remarks as prepared.

Thank you for that introduction and thank you to everyone in this room who has made this a reality. And thank you to my wife and family that continue to keep me moving. I also want to thank a special young man named Jordan McLinn who continues to inspire to keep hope against all odds.

Goldwater Institute Executive Vice President Christina Sandefur introduces Matt Bellina at the 2019 Goldwater Annual Dinner.

Some of you may be aware of my story and my access to the experimental treatment NurOwn from BrainStorm Therapeutics. Obviously we have a lot of work to do to cure this disease, but we have demonstrated unequivocally that lost motor function can be restored. This is both a miracle and a tremendous scientific achievement.  I apologize that I am speaking to you through a computer but I have a condition known as pseudo bulbar affect which makes it difficult to form words when I am emotional. Under the weight of the tremendous love and gratitude I feel for the people in this room, it would be impossible to form a complete sentence.

There is a common belief that when people are faced with a terminal illness, they become more enlightened, or at least have a greater perspective on life. This has not been my experience. For example, I spend an unhealthy amount of time ruminating about how the New York Yankees keep falling short of the World Series. One thing that has changed for me is that I have a lot more time to read. I want to share with you one small observation that has been sort of a compass for me. 

A 13th-century monk named Thomas à Kempis noticed that man’s heart is influenced by both nature and grace.  Everything I have read in philosophy, economics, and even fantasy football strategy seems to be an acknowledgement of this truth. We are subjects of our animal nature with the terrible burden of our divine logic compelling us to overcome it. The Right to Try law is an almost perfect recognition of our condition. Medical innovation is always going to be market driven no matter how much some people want to believe it can be different. But the law is also consistent with the ideal of individual liberty and the infinite potential for anyone brave enough to pursue it.

Matt Bellina receives the 2019 Goldwater Institute Freedom Award from Goldwater Executive Vice President Christina Sandefur.

There are predators out there trying to convince us our nature can be overcome through some sort of collectivist utopia. In our weakness it may be tempting to sacrifice our freedom for this false security  but inevitably their plans are designed to satisfy their own appetites. What other way could it be?

The path to grace has always been through rugged individualism and I am here tonight to thank all of you for being courageous enough to fight for it. 

Warm Regards,
Matt Bellina

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!