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Dear Friends, Yesterday I made a TV appearance along with Ivan and my husband, Jon. It was a very positive experience. We talked about Parkinson's Disease, the Udall bill, World Parkinson's Day, the impact PD has on family, etc.. Last night and today I have heard from many, many people who have expressed what a wonderful job we did and how much they learned from the show. I would like to share with you what one teacher e-mailed me today: "We recorded your interview and watched last night. You were wonderful and seemed quite relaxed! I am glad this came about and we can talk, ask questions and share with you as you go through this journey. I think it would also be good if we can get involved in a formal/organized way to push for funding for research for Parkinson's. If you have any ideas or suggestions for more involvement from us, please let me know." I would appreciate hearing from any of you regarding an easy and simple way to get information to 60 people regarding who they should write to and what they should say to encourage the funding of the Udall bill. Two Maine senators have responded to my e-mails and letters urging them to support the funding of the Udall bill. I am a little confused by their responses. One of them says "You will be pleased to learn that in the final version of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, a total of $100 million dollars has been appropriated to fund basic research on Parkinson's disease.". The other one says "However, while the bill authorized the National Institutes of Health to spend $100 million on Parkinson's research and education, appropriations bills generally do not provide line-item funding for disease-specific research. Instead, in the final report on the appropriations bill, the conference committee stated that it was their understanding from NIH that sufficient funds were available within the amounts provided in the Institute's FY 1998 budget to expand research on Parkinson's. In fact, the projected spending on Parkinson's research for FY 1998 is estimated at $98.5 million." Would anyone care to comment? What is the status of the funding of the Udall bill? I did not think $100 million had been appropriated yet. Thank you all for listening. Karen :-))) [log in to unmask]