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highlights: page 7: Calendar of Events item 6: PARKYTHON 2002 April 24-26, 2002 in Myrtle Beach, SC A Parkinson's Q&A Program. Call Leo Casavant for details at 517 448 7752 page 9: item: PD Awareness Comes in Many Ways Leo Casavant (a.k.a. "Chy") just happened to be in New York City a few weeks ago. Since he has long admired the Today Show, mostly due to Katie Couric's contributions to it, he found himself one Friday morning at a restaurant, eating breakfast with one hand and coloring/drawing a poster/sign with the other. He joined hundreds of hopefuls in front of the NBC Today Show windows on Rockefeller Plaza, and brandished his sign proclaiming Parkinson's disease awareness, the PD Unity Walk, and the only PD talk radio show on the planet: Travels with Parkinson's. A man with a severe tremor, who was drawn to Chy by the PD sign, approached him. This man from West Virginia had had PD for 30 years and had not met another Parky, had not been to a support group meeting, but he reached out to Chy in the mass of people and television cameras and all the Big Apple seeds. They talked awhile, and then were asked if they wanted their photo taken. The result is now on Chy's web-site: "Travels With Parkinson's - Talk-radio With a Purpose" at: http://www.geocities.com./chycasavant/ . Chy didn't catch his name, but hopes that his new found buddy will keep in touch. They were both given instructions by the photo people as to how to view their photo and how to order copies online at the NBC store: http://www.nbcpix.com , code 138-326 (expired 15 July 2001). page 11: item: PARKYTHON 2001 One way to describe "PARKYTHON 2001", the brilliant brainchild of Mr. Leonard Casavant and Janet Paterson, is "Hollywood Squares Parkinson's Style". The 72-hour event took place on May 4-6 via telephone, radio, and website and drew dozens of medical experts, organizational executives and advocates from around the national Parkinson community. Participants included Robin Anthony Elliott, Executive Director of the PDF; Janet Paterson, a PWP and PARKYTHON 2001 publicist; Carol Walton, Executive Director of the Parkinson Alliance; and Dr. Lawrence Elmer, Assoicate Professor, Department of Neurology at the Medical College of Toledo, OH. Besides raising $7,000.00 to support the research efforts of the Parkinson Alliance, the event brought together the professional, medical and lay members of the PD community in a creative way to raise awareness of the needs and concerns of people with Parkinson's disease as well as educate the public. Bravo to Leonard, Janet and the rest of the PARKYTHON 2001 coodinators who helped make the event such a success: Elaine Casavant (Leonard's wife), Dave Sheely, Peggy Willocks, James Newton, Jimmy Turner, and Maurice Monroe. Special thanks also goes to Pharmacia and Boehringer Ingelheim for their support. For information about PARKYTHON 2002 - scheduled for April 24-26 in Myrtle Beach, SC - log onto http://www.geocities.com/chycasavant/ , or contact Leonard Casavant by telephone at (517) 448 7752 or e-mail at [log in to unmask] . Photo captions: 1. Some of the PARKYTHON 2001 organizers proudly display the corporate sponsorship banner. L to R: Elaine Casavant, Jim Turner, Leonard Casavant, and Peggy Willocks. 2. A live concert was also part of the PARKYTHON 2001 event. Pictured above is Jim Newton (concert manager) with some of the PARKYTHON 2001 organizers outside of the Sunset Acres Motel in Hudson, MI. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn