WASHINGTON (AP) – New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi and Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy offered their support Tuesday to a bill that would help make the public more aware of the warning signs of strokes.

Bruschi had a minor stroke 10 days after the Patriots’ 2005 Super Bowl win. After having surgery to repair a hole in his heart, he returned as a key player for the team.

Kerry, meeting with Bruschi in his office, praised his courage and tenacity in educating the public about the warning signs of strokes.

“Tedy Bruschi is living proof that you can’t keep a good man down and that activism can come out of adversity,” Kerry said in a statement. “Since his stroke, he’s made it his mission to spread the word about stroke, to be an advocate and to inform and educate about stroke’s warning signs and risk factors.”

Bruschi recalled his own stroke symptoms.

“I could hear my son come in the room, but I couldn’t see him,” Bruschi said in a statement. “That’s when I went to the hospital.”

Bruschi also met with Sen. Edward Kennedy, co-author of the STOP Stroke Act of 2007, a measure to raise public awareness of stroke warning signs. It also would set up a grant program so states can improve how they prevent, treat and diagnose strokes. Kennedy hailed Bruschi as a “role model.”

Bruschi and other stroke survivors were in Washington to lobby lawmakers as part of Stroke Awareness Month.

AP-ES-05-15-07 1601EDT