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Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 14:33:25 -0500 From: Joan Snyder Subject: Joan Snyder's acceptance speech: the Sidney Dorros Memorial Award Just a few nights ago, I stopped in at my old stompin’ grounds - the PWP Dumpster Gang chatroom for some news and for some much needed relaxation. The Dumpster Gang hideout has always been my refuge from the trials of everyday life with PD. There I can usually find a friendly face and grin from folks who are dealing with the same stuff that I’m going through. It makes everything more bearable just to know that we are not alone on this train track that we’ve been switched to! What I found was a bunch of newbies (for those of you unfamiliar with computer-eze - a newbie is a person who is either new to computer skills or, in our case, new to the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease), all of them wailing and whining about the unfairness of the situation and how much they either hated the circumstances that forced them to change their lives or were in denial ... that kind of shell-shock that hits you when you say "I haven’t done anything bad enough to deserve this!" And they would be right! No one deserves this disease nor is it a punishment for past sins. It’s just life. But when I began talking about what an exciting time that it is to have PD and how rewarding my life is, I was met with derision and an abject refusal to look on the bright side. I was asked who the hell I thought I was and what were my credentials to join this not-so-exclusive club - and I realized just how blessed and lucky I was to have made the online friends that I have made. To have already experienced the pain and the denial; to have already had the strength to work through all of the negative and made my somewhat uneasy peace with this Parkinson’s disease. To use Sidney Dorros’ favorite phrase: "To accommodate but never surrender!" There, of course, is no easy way to get through this process of discovering life after your diagnosis and it would be impossible without the love and support that I have gotten from a thousand different people - all of you here have made an enormous impact on my life and I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot begin to think of life lived without the special people who are my guiding lights and my pillars of strength - without the Parkinson Alliance and PLWP and the Dumpster Gang - all of the many friends who enable me to get out of day and to face each day with renewed hope and energy; both online and off. My special thanks to Peggy Willocks of Tennessee for nominating me for this award (I love you, Pretty Peg!) and to all of those who sent in letters supporting that nomination and also to my partner and my best friend on the internet Dennis Greene (of Perth, Australia) - I couldn’t have done this without his encouragement and his brilliance lighting the way. I would next like to acknowledge the unstoppable and the never-ending source of my strength and love - my dear family. For it is only through the generosity of spirit and the kindness of heart of my husband, Stan; my darling children, Ali and Mitch; my sainted mother, Norma Blessington; and my sisters and brothers and their families that I am able to devote so much of my time and energy to what has become my passion and my ministry. And I humbly thank God and also my patron saint - Joan of Arc - for showing me the way to best use the gifts that God has so graciously given me to serve Him and His people. Thank you, Donna Dorros, for this award. Please know how much this means to me and please know that the courageous spirit of your husband, Sidney Dorros will live on through my actions and my attitude all the rest of my life. Now, I can’t wait to have the time to get back to the chatroom with my message of hope and redemption! Joan E. Blessington Snyder 49/11 http://www.geocities.com/joanbsnyder/ janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky . pd: 54/41/37 cd: 54/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] . snail mail: 375 Country Street, Apt 301, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 . a new voice: the nnnewsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/janet313/ . a new voice: the wwweb site: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn