You can do anything better than I can ...
I say that advisedly. If I managed to see my congressman - so can you.
You don't have to be somebody special or famous; you just have to be
yourself, and persistent and polite!
Let me introduce myself - I am Hilary Blue, a widow, 49 years old
with three teenage children. I was diagnosed with PD 16 years ago,
when I was pregnant with my second child - but I'd had symptoms for many
years before that. My friend Anne Gill was diagnosed just 6 months ago
- although she has had symptoms for many years, which she has been
fighting with yoga. An amazing lady - but that's another story.
We decided to attend the PAN Forum in DC recently, and frantically
started collecting signatures for a petition to our congressman. WE
were so proud, she with 250, and me with 150! When we got to the forum
we were astounded to see how many signatures others had collcted - more
like 6000 at a time. So we decided to delay presenting our measly
petition until we could collect more signatures. We linked up with Sue
Carter, a veterna i PD advocacy, who lives in the same congressional
district as we do, and who became our mentor.
Then last week I found our that Tom Davies, our representative,
would be addressing a meeting at the Northern Virginina Jewish Community
Center. I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to present our
petition - little did I know how near perfect it would turn out to be.
Unfortunately , Sue Carter was unable to be present - and Anne and I,
two rank amateurs had to handle this on our own.
We didn't know this in advance, but it seems that everyone who was
anyone in the Jewish political scene was there - the room was
overflowing with money and power and influence - and every one signed
our petition. We had struck gold!!! These may not be the people who
signed the Udall Bill - but they know the people who did. And they are
the peoople who support the fund-raisers, - who buy the tickets to the
$1000 per plate dinners and so on.
Some of them were woefully ignorant about PD. They seemed not to
comprehend that at one p[oint in time I was tremendously dyskinetic and
almost incoherent. And then I calmed down, and Anne got the shakes.
Anne was wonderful - handled Tom Davis like a pro - reminding him
of when her son was his paper boy, and then thanking him personally
"on behalf of his loyal consitituents" for his support for the Udall
Bill -- and eliciting from him a response that he would continue to
support Parkinson"s Research, in particular the funding of the Udall
Bill.
But the importance of the evening was not that we collared one
Congressman and presented him with a petition. I think that we broke
new ground - and fertile ground at that. We sparked an interest in a
group of people who are practised advocates in their own fields of
interests, with many contacts and influences on the hil - who have now
discovered a new interest, a new vulnerability. After all, any one of
them may get PD.
We did it. Anne and I. Two naive amateurs. It took the right timing,
the right place, and a whole lot of luck. Think how much more YOU could
do, if you actually planned it !!!!!!!
