Wearing his feelings on his wrist

Laura Vozzell Baltimore Sun
Originally published Jan 25, 2006

For months now, Gov. Robert Ehrlich has worn an orange bracelet that reads, "I am able." Good mantra, maybe, for a Republican governor making a re-election bid in an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But the wristband really promotes disabilities awareness.

Recently, a light-blue band joined the orange one on the governor's left wrist. It says "Conner's way."

The parents of Conner Hopf, Carl and Desiree Hopf of Ellicott City, gave it to the governor in December at a fundraiser for their baby boy, who has rare degenerative disease known as Tay-Sachs.

(Conner was the subject of a front-page story in The Sun last month.)
"He [Ehrlich] sent me a very nice follow-up letter a few weeks ago," Desiree Hopf said. "He said he wears Conner's bracelet and he never takes it off."

The Hopfs heard from the governor's office again the other day, when someone called to invite them to tomorrow's State of the State address.
They don't have any idea if the governor will recognize them during the address or make some connection to public policy. (The governor's spokeswoman says he'll identify a number of people in his speech, but their names won't be divulged beforehand.)

There are a lot of areas where Ehrlich could make that sort of link. The Hopfs are pushing to make testing for the disease routine during pregnancy. They hope stem cell research will lead to a cure. And they're struggling to pay for Conner's care, since they are too well off for Medicaid but have health insurance from a company that, Desiree Hopf says, "doesn't want to cover anything."

But if Ehrlich doesn't mention the Hopfs in his address, they'll still go away happy. They'll just be glad the guy with all the TV cameras pointed his way will be wearing their blue band.

Says Desiree Hopf: "Just getting out there and getting it in the public eye, that's exactly what we want."