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In a letter to the editor of our local newspaper on May 16, a reader reported the following information obtained from Congressman George Radanovich in response to a query: Federal money spent funding the following: Heart Disease: 737,563 deaths .. 31 percent of total deaths ...$851,581 Cancer: 538,455 deaths .. 23.3 percent of total deaths .... $21,711,809 AIDS: 43,115 deaths .... 1.4 percent of total deaths ... $5,598,000 The writer noted the disparities and cited examples of the attention- getting devices used by AIDS activists, and ended saying, "We need to communicate to our representative that we want action on those diseases affecting us." After reading that, two points came to mind: If allocations are based on death statistics, we stand a weaker chance of appearing numerous enough to be considered very seriously, since the immediate cause of demise is likely to be something else, like pneumonia or an associated disease. Also, I noticed was that it is those three diseases that tend to come to the public's mind immediately. MS and Alzheimers do too. PD has gotten media coverage with reports on palladotomies and other brain procedures, but the public seems to have gotten the impression that these are cures. We need to get loud and aggressive and informative to get our fair piece of the money pie that pays for research. When business wants to improve sales and their image, they hire a public relations firm with a good track record whose job is to place their client's name and product in the public's face wherever they go. Awareness and image is the way it is done. Our group here on the PD list are doing that very well, but there are a lot of people with PD who are hidden from the world and are trying to cope with meager informational resources. Perhaps we need to seek out those compatriots and get them involved too. There are a lot more of us out there than our congresspeople are aware of. Now where is my pen and paper .... Dear Congressman, Its me again..... Martha Rohrer [log in to unmask]