Congressman Denny Heck
Representing the 10th District of Washington
U.S. Rep. Heck devotes first floor speech to ailing OHS coach
Jan 22, 2013
In The News
Brad Shannon | The Olympian
U.S. Rep. Denny Heck gave his first floor speech today in the House, and he used his time to ask for support for Olympia High School baseball coach and English teacher Todd McDougall, who was diagnosed last month with an inoperable brain cancer. Heck is an Olympia Democrat in the state’s new 10th Congressional District.
The video of his short speech is here.
Meg Wochnick of The Olympian has written about McDougall here and here, and the OHS school paper, The Olympus, has an account here.
Heck's office released the following text of his remarks:
My wife Paula and I live about 500 yards from Olympia High School and its baseball field. Every spring, we wander over to the field to watch the team play. For the past 20 years, the team has been coached by Todd McDougall and he’s a great coach. Todd’s just 42 years old and has taught at Olympia High his entire career. He’s one of those – and we all know them – great teachers. So is his wife Julie, a middle school science teacher. You can imagine the community heartbreak a few weeks ago when Todd was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Grade 4 Brain Cancer.
Coach McDougall could use our prayers right now as could Julie, their 11-year-old daughter Marlee and their twin 9-year-old sons, Andrew and Dylan. I hope you’ll find out more about this remarkable man at Friends for Todd McDougall on Facebook. Thank you.
An account to benefit McDougall and his family has been set up at Twin Star Credit Union, and the Facebook page set up by friends of McDougall is here.