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Thursday January 15, 1998 I flew to Florida to join a group of advocates. We hoped to discuss the needs of the PD community including patient and caregiver concerns. I had never met any of the representatives from NPF prior to this trip. The first person I met was Nathan Slewett, Chairman of the NPF. He shared with me how he first became involved in fund raising for PD. He was married for 58 years until his wife died recently. They set a wonderful example for their children and grand children who are now all involved in philanthropic enterprises. I thanked him for his generosity and leadership in the Parkinson Community and for giving The Alliance an opportunity to meet and find its way. Mr. Slewett, several Board members and their families were present at a dinner hosted by NPF for the conferees. Mr.Emilio Mendosa shared with us his mother's battle with PD and his role as a caregiver for her. Michael Alicea a wonderful young man who works in many capacities at the NPF was a frequent companion who tried to answer our questions and be of help in any way he could. Dr Lieberman came from his busy practice in Phoenix to devote generously of his time to answer our many questions. Larry Hoffheimer was also with us helping in whatever way he could. We talked about our children and our experiences in the lobbying activities. Debbie, Amelio's executive assistant, was a sweet heart arranging our travel arrangements as was Bill Turenne who put up with all our changes in ticketing and scheduling. Most of The Alliance team members were old friends. David Engles from Oregon was someone I met for the first time. He was very quite but when he spoke he was articulate and to the point. I also met Peter and Marilyn Morabito for the first time. Peter shared his passion for research with me. They were a wonderful couple and I look forward to meeting them again. The meeting in Florida for me was exhausting physically and emotionally. On the last day we met for about 16 hours. As I looked at these people who are like family to me, I was sadden to see our symptoms had gotten worse since our July lobbying effort. I think we all sensed that our ability to be effective in the battle to FIND THE CURE was diminishing rapidly. A sense of urgency prevailed that as our abilities continued to decline a new crop of advocates needed to be recruited and trained to replace us As important as finding a cure is, the agenda must also consider how to improve the quality of life for the PD patient and caregiver. This was clearly brought home to us in a private message from Rita Weeks. Again my thanks to NPF for giving us this opportunity and making it a reality. Please pray for all of us whose lives have been touched by this disease. Lupe McCann posted by Dale severance for Lupe