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Local Woman Helps In Fight Against Parkinson's Disease Jeff DiVeronica - Staff writer - [log in to unmask] SOURCE: The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY (August 19, 2004) — Nancy Abraham was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 41. Nine years later, not only is she organizing a charity golf event to help fight Parkinson's, but she has helped build a network for those afflicted by it and also received a national award for her work. "I hate having Parkinson's, but it has pushed me to do things I never thought I would or could do, things that I hope will make a difference to the Parkinson's community," said the Webster resident and graduate of Our Lady of Mercy High School. Six years ago, Abraham and Brenda Tucker met in an Internet chat room for those who have the disease. They struck up a friendship, met in person months later and at a cabin in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee decided to start a Web site to help people with Parkinson's. The site was launched April 1, 2001, and is called "People Living With Parkinson's." Its address is http://www.plwp.org The site has about 1,000 members from all over the world and contains information on symptoms, links to articles and contacts for support groups. "Getting the word out to fight this disease is very important, because it is affecting more and more of us at an early age," said Abraham, who retired three years ago after 17 years with Bausch & Lomb, the major sponsor for Tuesday's PLWP golf tournament at Caledonia Country Club. Spots are still available for this year's event; details are on the Web site. The tournament had 109 golfers last year and raised nearly $10,000. Abraham and Tucker received a national humanitarian award in May 2003 in New York City for their efforts. They also met a man in the chat room a few years ago, and after months of chatting, he said he wanted to tell them who he really was. It was actor Michael J. Fox, who also has Parkinson's. "Yeah, right," Abraham said. "We didn't know whether to believe him or not." But after Fox arranged for Abraham and Tucker to be guests at a taping of the Fox sitcom Spin City, they were convinced. "He treated us like queens," said Abraham, a mother of two who has been married for 30 years. "It's probably one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me." [log in to unmask] SOURCE: The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY http://tinyurl.com/7y439 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn