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Reno gives emotional talk about her illness Posted on Wed, Apr. 02, 2003 - In a rare display of emotion about her personal life, Janet Reno teared up as she spoke about living with Parkinson's disease to a crowd of about 300 during a symposium of the disorder this morning in Fort Lauderdale. Urging those not to fight depression and embrace life despite their diagnosis, the former U.S. Attorney General said, "If the next eight years are half as good as these past, I will be just fine." Saying that kayaking, hiking, and other water sports, helps her forget about the tremors that have taken over much of one of her hands, she said: "When I can't do it all, I will hold my niece and nephew. And when I can't do that, I will tell them stories. And I'll have my nephew dance for me and my niece beam at me." Her voice breaking, she finished, "Because this world is here to be enjoyed. Life is wonderful." Dressed in a plum suit, Reno arrived at the free event sponsered by North Ridge Medical Center's Neuroscience Center in her famous red pick-up truck. Before she spoke, she walked around the lobby, talking with anyone who stopped her. Sue Miller, 54, of Hollywood, a well known activist for Parkinson's research spoke with Reno for a few minutes. Miller was diagnosed 10 years ago after living with the degenerative disease since her teens when she first experienced problems with balance, a common symptom of Parkinson's. The bright-eyed red head who written poetry and songs about her disability, takes about 12 pills a day to combat symptoms such as tremors - or uncontrollable shaking, dizziness, memory loss, or momentary inertia. "I went through every test you can imagine, so finally finding out what the problem was actually a very happy thing", she said. Miller hoped Wednesday's event, held at the Fort Lauderdale Westin Hotel, would help others with the affliction feel more part of a community. A local speaker and member of several North Ridge Parkinson's Foundation Care Center supports groups, she was also optimistic that the event might lead to brainstorming about a grass-roots push for legislation supporting stem cell research, widely believed to be the first step in curing the disease. "With people like Ms. Reno and Mr. [Michael J.] Fox, high profile attention gets paid to a disease that people just didn't want to talk about or knew much about when I was first dealing with it", said Miller. BY Ashley Fantz The Miami Herald http://www.miami.com/ janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit primarily perky, parky pd: 56-41-37 cd: 56-44-43 tel: 613-256-8340 email: [log in to unmask] my newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newvoicenews/ my website: 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