The first transplant was the toughest, and he developed a serious staphylococcus infection. It was at the time leading up to the transplant that he decided to sell his oil business. “I just couldn’t concentrate on the payroll.” The initial treatment caused a lot of confusion. His trips from Connecticut to Arkansas required long stays and he and his wife rented an apartment. He was in isolation for 30-day periods, and for an active politician, that was no easy chore.

But there was work needing to be done at the legislature, and he described the nurses being very helpful to him – allowing him to speak to reporters on the telephone, and helping him fax messages back and forth. He said, “Those nurses really helped pull me through.” His wife was by his side, too. “She is like Mother Teresa. Her family is from Albania, too.” No, not even the rigors of a tandem transplant would get Larry down.

About 5 months after the second transplant, Larry was back full force in the state legislature, although he was 50 pounds lighter, and he joked about his need for a hairpiece. “They all looked like dead cats. I didn’t want to look like a jerk.”

Oh, he is far from that. Over the last several sessions he has been involved with a huge volume of legislation which requires hours in committee meetings. Some of those meetings can go for more than 12 hours. In his 15th year at the legislature, he is the ranking member of the Housing Committee where he has been fighting to protect the rights of older residents that are 55 or older in restricted housing developments, and he has been trying to reform the “affordable” housing law. “My proposal would ensure that developers do not seek approval from local land use boards for high-density housing for persons 55 years of age fully intending to seek waivers from those stipulations shortly after their projects are completed and ready for occupancy. Housing intended for mature adults should continue to be available to them for many years after the complex is built. Otherwise, unscrupulous developers who want to build high-density housing projects in areas that are clearly inappropriate for them will continue to seek approval for them as age-restricted complexes for mature adults.” 

In his Energy Committee, he has been also involved with health matters related to the use of biodiesel fuels as alternatives to the highly polluting fuels currently marketed. He is concerned about the high cancer risk in Connecticut along with the high incidences of lung diseases. During the summertime, Connecticut does violate the National Air Quality standard for smog on a frequent basis – one of the highest levels of air pollution in the nation. He admits that his own health challenges have made him more attuned than ever to these health concerns. Miller says, “If more buses and trucks used biodiesel fuel, Connecticut’s air quality would improve significantly. It is used by the United States Army, Navy and Air Force as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is available in about 30 states and 50 percent of European countries. Biodiesel fuel is a home grown product that can be derived from cooking oil. It can also be extracted from soybeans, peanuts, vegetables and other organic materials. It is less toxic than table salt; it is biodegradable and environmentally friendly.”

In the Planning and Development Committee, his group seems to be into just about everything – not only housing, but also, fire, sewer, regional planning and development. You name it. The list of legislation with which he has been active goes on for volumes.

But his stem cell work probably caught the eye of most people across Connecticut. In speaking about it, Larry said, “In 1998, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a particularly deadly form of cancer, and given three to five years to live. I am now in remission thanks to the adult stem cell transplant therapy I received at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. There are many other illnesses or debilitating medical conditions that can be cured using treatments developed through stem cell research. Medical researchers believe that further study could result in breakthrough treatments for many ailments or chronic conditions that for years have been considered incurable.” He then went on to speak about the religious opposition to the plan, and that is when things took a more difficult turn.