USA Thalidomide Survivors

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Congressman Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey is working toward building a bipartisan coalition for our USA Thalidomide Survivors Group Bill; a contact made thanks to the connections and advocacy of Thalidomide Survivor Katherine Falcone. His staff, led by Senior Legislative Assistant, Noah Garber, has already begun to research and work on language for the bill!
The photo below was taken during our historic first meeting with the Congressman’s office, September 12, 2024.
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“WONDER DRUG” LAUNCHED 06/27/2023

Book cover pictures child with curly blonde hair and no arms using her feet to play with a toy. Wonder Drug: The Secret History Of Thalidomide In America And Its Hidden Victims.

How Many Thalidomide babies Were born in the US?

Every source from 1962 through 2019 has quoted an incorrect number of “thalidomide babies” born in the United States. FDA records investigated by journalist Jennifer Vanderbes suggest that dozens of babies were never identified or officially counted.

The official FDA count released in the 1960s was seventeen thalidomide babies born in the United States. Nine of them were born to mothers who took samples made by American drug companies. Eight other mothers said they obtained the drug in other countries.

There were many more. In 2023, Random House released WONDER DRUG: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THALIDOMIDE IN AMERICA AND ITS HIDDEN VICTIMS, detailing the previously unreported suspicions raised by the original FDA investigation.

Purchase the book
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WATCH OUR DOCUMENTARY

Thalidomide in the USA: Seeking a Life of Dignity and Independence

A few of approximately 150 self-identified survivors we have located since 2016

Bonnie: born in Illinois in 1962

JoJo: born in New York in 1962

Jean: born in Ohio in 1962

Laura Kendall with arm prosthesis

Laura: born in California, 1958

Thalidomide Baby born in the U.S.

Darren: born in Missouri in 1962

Steve-Markle

Steve: born in New Jersey, 1962

Thalidomide Baby born in the U.S.

Gwen: born in Ohio in 1962

Thalidomide Baby born in the U.S.

Burt: born in Wisconsin in 1957

Thalidomide Baby born in the U.S.

Kim: born in Pennsylvania in 1959

Jan: born in Oklahoma in 1962

Tawana: born in North Carolina in 1963

Gianna: born on a US Military Base in 1962

Thalidomide baby born in the U.S. 1962

John: born in Mississippi in 1959

Thalidomide baby born in the U.S. 1962

Terrie: born in 1964

Thalidomide baby born in the U.S. 1962

Bobbie: 

Thalidomide baby born in the U.S. 1962

Leslie: born in Maryland, 1959

Thalidomide baby born in the U.S. 1962

Marta: born in New York in 1961

Thalidomide baby born in the U.S. 1962

Randall: born on a US military base, Madrid, Spain, 1958

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From Our Blog

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 1

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 1

Apr 9, 2021

An autoBIOGRAPHICAL MINISERIES Part One of how Thalidomide affected my life.... Do you remember that Steve Martin movie where his character starts out by saying "I was born a poor black child." ? He said that cuz everyone he looked at, his whole family, was black. At...

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The Glass Ceiling of Thalidomide

The Glass Ceiling of Thalidomide

Jan 19, 2020

I am sitting right now, looking upward at a glass ceiling right above my head, so close that it concerns me. I can see where I want to go, but I can’t get there.

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