Hey Joan ya get ur shoes yet??:)) I am going to wear my Rockports with
my gown and put the meds in my buggy pouch of my walker or chair.  U
have a side pouch with velcro straps for the wheelchair/ walker/cane? I
have a red one ir u want to borrow it??  It is cleaned and pressed:)
size> about 8" by 3 1/2 " very functional and nice looking:)
So excited for u!

nancy:)

janet paterson wrote:
>
> Snyders bound for the Big Apple
>
> Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - Chillicothe, IL - In about a month, Joan
> Snyder will travel to the New York area for the premier of a book she
> helped to write, rub shoulders with the likes of Helen Gurley Brown and
> others in the New York literary world, and even see a Broadway play written
> by Elton John. And, she owes it all to one thing - the fact that she has
> Parkinson's Disease.
>
> "God bless Parkinson's Disease. I hate it. But it has given me the
> opportunity to do things I never thought I'd be able to accomplish," said
> Snyder.
>
> Parkinson's Disease is a progressive disorder of the central nervous system
> affecting over one million people in the United States. It is characterized
> by a decrease in spontaneous movements, gait difficulty, postural
> instability, rigidity and tremor.
>
> Snyder isn't exactly sure when Parkinson's first entered her life. "I only
> know that it came quietly, gently; at first barely making its presence
> known like a whisper of things to come," she writes on her own home page on
> the internet. She noticed a numbness on her left side after the birth of
> her daughter, Allison, who will soon turn 13, and her condition worsened as
> time went on and she had her second child, son Mitchell, 10.
>
> Since 1996, she has endured two brain surgeries, called pallidotomies, in
> which the patient is awake with only a mild sedative to calm them so they
> can communicate with the doctor. The patient is fitted with a four-post
> metal ring, or "halo," held in place by four screws bored into the outer
> table of the skull.
>
> "My second pallidotomy nearly killed me," she said, indicating her doctors
> did not give her high odds. "I believe God brought me back for a purpose.
> This is why I work so hard, so my kids can grow up and never have to worry
> about Parkinson's or any other neurological disease, we're so close to a
> cure."
>
> Her condition is treated with medication, but she has found another way to
> cope with the disease - sharing the story of those afflicted with
> Parkinson's. Every bit as important as the medicine she takes regularly is
> the contact with other Parkinson's sufferers she has found, via the internet.
>
> It is online that she has discovered a way to communicate her feelings
> about Parkinson's and gain strength from others in the same predicament,
> and become a soon-to-be-published author in the bargain.
>
> "The Letting Go: A Parkinson's Story," an art-photography exhibit
> chronicling the struggles of Chillicothean Claude Scott, who suffered from
> Parkinson's, which was created by his daughter Jane, and area photographer
> Marc Esser, was the inspiration for the book, "Voices from the Parking Lot:
> Parkinson's Insights and Perceptions."
>
> The idea came in a conversation with Margaret Tuchman, who also has
> Parkinson's, whom she got to know through the internet. She is the
> executive director of The Parkinson Alliance, a major contributor to
> Parkinson's research.
>
> "When I saw the exhibit, I was floored by it," Snyder said. "When I met
> Jane I was astonished to find the art show was sitting gathering dust." In
> talking with Tuchman, the two agreed what was needed was a book to showcase
> the art.
>
> Snyder and her chief book collaborator, fellow Parkinson's sufferer Dennis
> Greene, who lives in Australia, began soliciting material from known
> writers with Parkinson's. "The response was overwhelming. it began to
> evolve and take on a life of its own." The book is described as "a
> celebration of life by people who have seen that life through Parkinson's
> eyes."
>
> On Sept. 17, Snyder and her husband, Stan, will fly to New Jersey along
> with Jane Scott and her mother, Esser and his wife, and Greene and his
> wife, to attend a reception and showing of the art exhibit, at the National
> Arts Club of Gramercy Park. The event will also be a fundraiser for
> Parkinson's research, and the book will also be available for sale. Snyder
> will read some of the passages she wrote for the book, and guest celebrity
> readers like Gurley-Brown will also recite passages.
>
> Another appearance on behalf of People Living With Parkinson's, Inc. is
> scheduled Sept. 23 at The Philadelphia Hotel in New York, and in between,
> on Sept. 20, the Snyders will see the Broadway show. A more casual author's
> reception is planned in Manhattan, too.
>
> "I'm going to be like Cinderella. I have never been to New York," Snyder
> said. Some of her Parkinson's friends bought her a new dress for the occasion.
>
> Snyder estimates she spends 8-10 hours a day on the computer pursuing
> Parkinson's information. "Three years ago I had not a clue how to turn on a
> computer," she said. "I had to ask by children." Snyder knows her
> "Parkinson's Pals" on the internet are not the only ones who help sustain
> her as she battles the disease. There is support close to home, too.
>
> "My mother is my heart and my soul, and my husband, too," she said. "They
> both give me the time and the space to do what I have to do to feed my
> obsession. My husband is so good taking the children everywhere they need
> to go."
>
> Snyder says her children have always been around "people who are
> different," like her father who had Alzheimer's Disease. "Sometimes they
> might get angry that mom can't do stuff like every other mom, but I think
> (because of the situation) they are going to grow up to be caring,
> wonderful, adult human beings."
>
> Snyder has sponsored two local Parkinson's Awareness Days and a Parkinson's
> "Chat-Room Reunion" which brought Parkinson's people from all over the
> country to Chillicothe. "Chillicothe is a very tuned-in Parkinson's town."
>
> Through Snyder's efforts (and some matching funds from The Parkinson
> Alliance) over $5,000 has been raised in Chillicothe Parkinson's events.
>
> "I sincerely believe I have become a better person because of, not in spite
> of, the Parkinson's," said Snyder.
>
> By David Zoeller
> Independent Staff
> Volume 2 - No. 48
> 2000 Chillicothe Independent
> Created & Content by James Volpe
> "http://www.cinewspaper.com/feature.html"
>
> janet paterson
> 53 now / 44 dx cd / 43 onset cd / 41 dx pd / 37 onset pd
> tel: 613 256 8340 url: "http://www.geocities.com/janet313/"
> email: [log in to unmask] smail: POBox 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada