Snyder's "drive" is to "club" Parkinson's

Wednesday, November 8, 2000 - Chillicothe Illinois - Joan Snyder is a woman on a mission.

Her mission is to eradicate the debilitating disease that has plagued her life for the past
10 years - Parkinson's disease.

With nearly every aspect of her life affected by the neurologic disorder, it would be easy to underestimate Snyder's drive.

She's a powerhouse with a whisper of a voice and an incredible knack for making things happen.

Last week's meeting to plan a golf outing fund raiser is no exception to her (pardon the pun) drive.

What does golf have to do with Parkinson's disease? It will raise a lot of money and money is the key to funding research for a cure.

A tentative date of May 26, 2001, has been set for the event.

A golf outing at Donovan Golf Course and family day at Three Sisters Park is currently on the agenda.

Snyder also has the ability to bring people together to aid in her fight.

She sits on the board of directors for the People Living With Parkinson's Organisation, and enlisted the assistance of Carol Walton the executive director of the Parkinson Alliance. Walton traveled from New Jersey to attend the meeting and help coordinate the golf outing.

As of Thursday, the "Dream Team" established to plan the golf outing will be: Steve and Tina Tippett, Stan Snyder, Don White, Jeanine McCallister, Roger McChristian, Gene Petty, Butch Duffy, and Craig Kendall.

Walton became aware of the effects of Parkinson's Disease after her father was diagnosed and died from the disease. Walton decided she needed to do something to aid the fight against Parkinson's.

Walton left her career in insurance and teamed with Marty and Margaret Tuchman in Princeton, N.J., founders of The Parkinson Alliance.

Walton explained that the Alliance only raises money for research. Every dollar that is raised is doubled by the Tuchman's personal finances.

The goal for 2000 is $2 million and with only under two months left in the year, a total of $1.9 million has been raised for research.

Part of the money raised stays within the area for local reseacrh and awareness, while the balance is directed to the Alliance for wider distribution.

Pilots, research projects aiming for a cure to Parkinson's disease, are then funded wherever needed.

Walton explained that this year 43 pilot projects have already been funded throughout the United States.

Walton also mentioned that Michael J. Fox, famed television and movie actor, has "done for Parkinson's what Liz Taylor has done for AIDS".

Walton explained that since he is so well known, Fox has made more people aware of what the disease is.

The general public may not know the full effects of the disease, but thanks to Fox, they're at least aware Parkinson's Disease is real and does affect people.

Snyder then took the opportunity to welcome two local doctors who research Parkinson's Disease.

With tears in her eyes, Snyder described the new sense of hope she found after talking to Dr. Phillip Jobe.

Both Dr. Jobe and Dr, Rick Weber conduct brain disorder reaearch including Parkinson's Disease.

Dr. Jobe explained that since Parkinson's Disease creates deterioration to a part of the brain, just like cocaine abuse, studies on abusers of cocaine have been a concentration area.

Cocaine abusers have receptors that get blocked by the drug.

The similarity between Parkinson's Disease and cocaine abuse also includes that the same neurons are affected, just in a different area of the brain, according to Dr. Jobe.

Dr. Weber, while working to develop better treatments for pain, has introduced living cells into the striata, the part of the brain that is affected by PD.

He found very dramatically favorable effects have occurred from the cell introduction.

The doctors explained that like a transplant, the body wants to reject these cells, which is a problem which still needs resolution.

The two have also, along with doctors around the world, found that certain diseases are also starting to have commonalities.

Epilepsy, Alzheimer's Disease, stroke, and Huntington Disease are all showing striking similarities when certain experiments are done on the brain.

Dr. Weber said, "It's unfortunate to not have the money to do experiments."

For this reason, the Parkinson Alliance was created.

The golf outing planned in May, will also help with experiments conducted in the Peoria area.

At present a goal of $25,000 has been set for the golf tournament but Craig Kendall, longtime friend of Snyder, professional photographer and salesman, said, "realistically $100,000 might
be closer to reality, and if Alliance matches that, it would be $200,000.00".

Kendall plans to contact major businesses in the Peoria area and gather as many donations as possible.

The number of people, young and old, diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease is growing on a daily basis.

Fox and Snyder are proof that Parkinson's Disease no longer carries the stereotype of being an 'older person's disease'.

The doctors said research and experiments will take several more years to complete, but in the meantime financial help is needed.

For more information or to donate time and/or money, please contact Carol Walton at 211 College Road East, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, USA, tel 609-688-0870, fax 609-688-0875, or e-mail at:
<a href="http://www.parkinsonalliance.net/">http://www.parkinsonalliance.net/</a>.

by Nicki Scott
Independent Staff
The Chillicothe Independent
<a href="http://www.cinewspaper.com/">http://www.cinewspaper.com/</a>


janet paterson, an akinetic rigid subtype parkie
53 now /44 dx cd / 43 onset cd /41 dx pd / 37 onset pd
TEL: 613 256 8340 SMAIL: POBox 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada
EMAIL: [log in to unmask] URL: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/