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It took me three tries, but finally I wrote a letter to the editor that was short enough that the LA TImes printed it. They only lopped off a couple of sentences at the end. It appeared in today's Sunday edition, circulation 1, 385,373. As my dear departed mother always said, "Fools names and fools faces are often seen in public places." But this fool hopes that some people will read it. Here's what they printed: "When Janet Reno speaks, one million Americans don't listen: we're too busy watching her hands. If the tremor is bad, we fellow citizens with Parkinson's worry that the stress is getting to her, making her medications less effective. We're cheering her on: "Go, Janet! Show the world that people with Parkinson's can handle real work and cope with the daily roller coaster of slow motion vs. uncontrollable shakes." Most of us hide our disability on the true assumption that few people understand what Parkinson's is. This is despite the fact that the most recognized man in the world, Muhammad Ali, is standing up for us. "After a five-year, quiet, persistent, grass roots campaign for federal funding , the Udall Bill for Parkinson's Research was passed last year. Then Congress played a cruel trick: It didn't appropriate funding for the bill in the budget! " "Mary F. Yost coordinator, LA Metro Young Onset Parkinson's Network"