Hello Murray and all:
i would like to fill in a few details about the fundraiser that was
held for Lane Evans at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Springfield, IL. i
was invited and given a table of ten to try to fill. tickets for this
event were $500 apiece. i took as my guests: Chris (cinemaripper from
the chatroom) and my photographer and friend Craig Kendell. we drove
down to Springfield and there we met the rest of our guests: Dr.Jean
Ahlberg (a woman who i met thru this forum) & her husband, Dennis,
Dr.Craid Cady (a neuro-researcher at Bradley U who is doing remakable
aqnd wonderful work with stem cells), his lovely wife, Mary and a
friend of mine who is a drug rep for Bertek pharmaceuitals, David
Conrad. When we reached the beautiful room for the Unity Dinner, Nick,
who is Lane's Quad City campaign manager and runs Lanes home office
met me with good and bad news. the bad news was that Lane would be
unable to attend because the Republicans had called for a vote that
evening and Lane considers it his
privledge and responsability to vote on all bills. the good news was
that Nick had asked his staff to pick out four people to speak about
Lane Evans and to relate personal stories about him....and i was one
of the four!! first, the speakers table was annouced: made up of area
state Senators, state Represetatives and judges. talk about
intimidated!! fortunately, i didn't have to sit up there!! when
Barrack Obama was introduced-the place became unglued. no longer a
rising star in the Democratic party, he is now a bona-fide, real,
honest-to-goodness SUPERSTAR!! when he spoke it was of his deep care
and gratitude for Lane...who was the first to edndorse Barrack Obama
in his bid for the United State Senate. I remember being at the party
in the Quad Cities when Lane first introduced the skinny kid with the
big ears and the strange name and i remember being so taken with
then-state Senator Obama that i said that this man would be our first
Africian-American president. Barrak and his lovely wife, Michelle,
have since become very close friends of mine and it did my heart good
to hear him acknowledge the turning point in his career and pay homage
to Lane for giving Barrack the downstate exposure and giving Lane the
credit for his successes. during his speech, Barrack told a story
about the late, great Senator from IL, Paul Simon. i had just cleaned
out an old jewelry box and given my son all the rock and roll butttons
that i had and i had uncovered four old political buttons: one was
Paul Simon for US Senate, another that said "Out the door in 84-dump
Reagan," still another said "Let them eat jellybeans," and finally an
old Adlai Stevenson button which i put into my purse to be sure to
give as a gift to Lane. but when i heard Barrack speak with such
glowing memories about Paul Simon, i decieded to give that one to him.
Chris and i scurried out to the foyer in time for a quick hug and a
photo taken by Craig of Chris, Barrack and me (btw, he loved the Simon
pin and was thrilled to have it)...then we returned for a wonderful
dinner and were told stories by all of the folks at the speakers
table. Nick came over and said "ok-honey, time for you to get up
there." so David pushed my wheelchair up to the front. the master of
ceremonies intoduced the first of four speakers to tell of their
personal experiences with Lane. Nick came and told me that i would be
the clean up batter-speaking last. i decieded right then and there
that, no matter how nervous i was, i was going to hit a home run for
my friend-Lane Evans. everyone was after-dessert full and none to
lively when i got falteringly up to speak. first of all, i said that
not all drug reps are jerks because a previous speaker had pretty much
bashed drug companies for their large part in the buying and selling
of America. i said that my friend, David Conrad was indeed concerned
and caring and only trying to help the PD Community. I told them that
he is working on getting his company to print off and distribute 1,000
copies of my video. there were some nervous coughs and snickers. off
to a great start, i thought-NOT! then i introduced myself and told
them that i have pd-just slightly longer than Lane. I told them that
the dxes of PD is a life-altering experience and it makes one
recognize the priorities in life-teaching the person patience,
compassion and litterally a much better person. i said that lane has
proven time and again that there is nothing wrong wiht his brain; that
just because he speaks more slowly and moves without the usual DC
swager, it does not impede his decison-making or ability to think a
complex issue throught completely. i said that to a person, all the
pwp's that i have met are overachievers. i said that i was outraged by
the remarks of Andrea Lane Zigna and her unbelievable attacks on
Lane's health. Her entire campaign is based on the fact that she
thinks Lane is too sick to do his job and has said so many times
during the campaign. this got me my first standing ovation. i then
told of a letter that i had recieved from Zigna in which she stated
that speed and mobility are a prerequisite in Washington; constantly
running from appointment to meeting to session and she said that we
were suffering because Lane couldn't keep up the pace. "Bullshit"
i said, "When was the last time that anything happened in hurry in
Washington???" this brought the crowd to their feet and and had them
yellling and screaming. then i went onto the subject of stem cells. i
said that i am a Catholic and i also consider myself to be very
pro-life. i said that i didn't see how protecting an egg impregnated
by artificail insemination in a test tube and then not used in the
invitro fertilzation process could possibly be more pro-life than my
friends whom i see daily going down-hill from this dreadful disease. i
introduced Dr. Cady and spoke of his work with stem cells and how even
this man, who believes in life insists that we need to use embryonic
stem cells for research in spite of successes with adult stem cells.
to those who say that there have yet to be any breakthroughs yet with
embryonic stem cells, Dr. Cady says that they are impossibly
expensive, the currant available lines are all contaminated by mouse
cells and they have only been available to use in research for less
than four years. i told the crowd that Dr.Cady undertood the need to
lift the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cells as did
Senator John Kerry, Senator John Edwards,Barrock Obama but most
especially did Lane Evans!! This brought the house down.i said, in
closing, that i did not use the term "parkinson's sufferers" or speak
of us as victims because we are not victims-everyone has a cross to
carry and this one is ours, in the words of my friend and double
amputee/skydiver Dana Bowman, "it's not the disability...it's the
ability" that counts. as i looked out at the wildly cheering crowd, i
knew that God had provided me with that extra bowl of wheeties that i
needed to get this one over the fence!!

--
Joan E. Blessington Snyder       51/13
http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm
<[log in to unmask]>
"Hang tough...........no way through it but to do it."
Chris-in-the-Morning   (Northern Exposure)

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