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This appeared on the front page of the September 29 Philadelphia Inquirer. Apparently the article is too long to fit in a single message, so it has been split into two parts. Part I is below. Part II will be in the next message. Crusader's foe is all too familiar Calling himself Mr. Long-Term Care and citing "promises to keep," he mans his Web site as Parkinson's whittles on. By Michael Vitez INQUIRER STAFF WRITER a.. CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. - Martin Bayne's fingers are so stiff and swollen that every movement brings intense pain. Yet he's trying to shake America awake. (Martin Bayne, advocate for the aging and frail, spends most of his day at his upstate New York home in bed, working on his Web site, which he estimates has an annual readership of 750,000.) He is barely able to rise from bed. Yet he has spent years standing up for the old and frail. He rarely has guests. Yet he is visited by thousands of followers. Bayne was once an insurance salesman specializing in long-term care policies. But after a decade, he concluded that the abiding needs of the public, whose savings could be swallowed up by illness or the mere ravages of age, were not being served. Millions of baby boomers soon would require help with the most basic tasks of daily life. And America wasn't prepared. So he anointed himself Mr. Long-Term Care and, in 1995, established a Web site - www.mrltc.com - where he began agitating for change. It has developed into one of the Internet's best resources on long-term care and aging, with an annual readership that he estimates at 750,000. But along the way, in irony's merciless twist, he became an emblem of his own cause. At 45, Bayne was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a deterioration of nerve cells in the brain that control muscle function. For three years, he lived quite normally, even biking 26 miles a day. No more. Bayne is only 50, but the Parkinson's, with its ancillary illnesses, has advanced so rapidly that standing, making a fist, or simply trying to calm his palsied fingers is excruciating. He cannot put on his pants by himself. "It hurts just to be alive," he said. "But you get over it. It's interesting what you can live with." As his disease progresses, his world shrinks. Yet Bayne has used technology to extend his reach. He has six computers in his two-bedroom apartment in this Albany suburb, but he works primarily from his $6,000 hydraulic bed, "the command post." On a table at the side are a desktop computer, a laptop and a three-line speaker phone. Though almost constantly in bed, Mr. Long-Term Care rarely sleeps - not only because his pain won't let him, but because he doesn't want to miss one moment of life. He borrows from Robert Frost: "I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." Bayne routinely works 22 hours a day scanning news sources and 600 to 700 e-mail messages. He has recording equipment in a spare bedroom for telephone interviews with the likes of Clint Eastwood and Jimmy Carter, '60s guru Ram Dass and AARP president Tess Canja. At night, he updates his site with the audio, with items he has gleaned, and the blistering editorials he writes. "His Web site is a testament to what is possible even in the face of chronic illness," said Bill Thomas, founder of an international movement called the Eden Alternative, which seeks to revolutionize nursing homes by eliminating their institutional character. "It is one thing for me to be doing what I'm doing. He's doing it with a 200-pound weight on his back." As Bayne deals with isolation and physical limitation, his view has broadened. What the country needs, he contends now, is not just a comprehensive long-term care system, but something that must come first: a new attitude toward our aging society. "The culture doesn't know what to do with people who are old and frail," he said. "We hide them away. We have such a pathological view of aging. . . . They want us kept young forever, having face-lifts. Until we deal with how we turn away from aging, long-term care will always take a second seat." The strain – emotional, physical and financial – of his crusade has overwhelmed him. Two weeks ago, he announced his intention to sell his site to another publisher after Jan. 1, although he would prefer to remain on as editor. The news set off an avalanche of e-mail. "The nation needs you!" Audry Kubota wrote from Hawaii. "I just hope your successor has the zeal and stamina that you do. Your voice must be heard." Such sentiments make it difficult for him to consider stepping back. "I do everything," he said. "I love it. But it's killing me. I've spent my entire $500,000 retirement savings keeping this site going. I felt it was necessary to keep that torch alive. "But I need some help."