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Good points, all, Ivan. I believe that within the great mass of people that make up the "Baby Boomer" generation, there's going to be a younger, more vital group of individuals who will be struck by Parkinson's then there was in the past. Heretofore, PD has always been referred to as an "old person's disease," and indeed, it seems the general public AND the medical community tends to still believes that only older folks have Parkinson's. THEY are in for a SURPRISE!! As more and more Boomers become a part of the Parkinson's community we're going to hear a LOT of noise from them clamoring for a cure. THIS is the generations that honed their skills as activists in the turbulent 60s 70s (and Ivan was right there in the middle I betcha) <smile>. I think we'll be seeing AND hearing from them as they become active, vocal advocates for a Parkinson's cure. Parkinson's advocacy.... a cohesive Parkinson's grassroots VOICE... . really only started within the past few years. And look at it NOW! It's snowballing tremendously because of US... the Parkinson's COMMUNITY. Can't you just FEEL the potential... the POWER of such a group? <getting goose bumps> All we really need to do is to get ANGRY enough to ACT and then we're AWESOME (tipping virtual hat to our wonderful advocates who have tackled Washington!) Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Ivan M Suzman Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 1998 9:15 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Re: WHAT! PD is a third-class disease I feel so frustrated and so exhausted, but, I try to look at the bright side, even though I share Jerry's anger over our meager funding. The bright side is that we are:- 1. appearing on TV, radio and in newspapers in increasing numbers 2. the Udall Act is authorized for 3 years 3. we are closer than ever to getting $100 million/year in research and public education funds through the udall appropriations process 4 we are greatly increasing our advocacy tools and skills 5 we are becomimg a community, and are no longer isolated from one another ! Thank you Jerry for your positive energy and even for your anger. Ivan ^^^^^^WARM GREETINGS FROM^^^^^^^^^^ Ivan Suzman 48/11 [log in to unmask] Portland, Maine land of lighthouses 57 deg. F *********************************************************** On Wed, 8 Jul 1998 21:42:07 -0500 Jerry Finch <[log in to unmask]> writes: >"That means the agency spent about $1,162 in research monies >for every heart disease death, versus $33,513 for every AIDS >death." > >Hold on a cotton-pickin' minute here. My understanding is >that PD gets 28 bucks a year, right? What's up with this? PD >is a third-class disease? >