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Bob, Your message reflected a great deal of what I've been thinking and feeling. Like Nancy, I see time running out and know I can ill afford the delays and procrastinations of competing organizations. And like you, I went alone to the 1995 PAN Forum (where you so graciously helped me with my luggage). At that meeting, I was amused at the three organizations playing "Can you top this?" when it came time to commit to PAN's cause. I thought at that time that competition might be healthy in this case, since it was encouraging each group to try to outdo the others and we might benefit from that. Of course, I also wondered if there wasn't a lot of duplication of effort, which might better be directed toward common goals we could reach more quickly, but I've come to the conclusion that even if that were desirable, it's not going to happen, so we might as well work with what we have. When the APDA national officers were involved in the embezzlement scandal, I was glad they weren't the only show in town! I may have missed some of the original information about the Patient Congress, and I'd like more info about its goals and methodology. What will it be doing that is not being done by the national organizations and PAN? How will its agenda be different? I'd appreciate any information you can give me. I realized at the '96 Forum that you have a lot of political savvy we can all benefit from. I think about Nancy and hope she's hanging in there until the cure comes. I'm the leader of an area-wide support group of young-onset PWP's, and a man in our group has back problems similar to Nancy's. Would you mind if he contacted her for information and support? I won't say anything to him until I hear from you. Hope you managed to have a nice Thanksgiving. Tell Nancy we'll have that golf game yet! Regards, Pat