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Hey, I have an idea for an informal study, which hopefully I can coordinate, at least in the beginning, and later pass off to one of the national pd organizations or to some individual researcher. As the question was recently brought up concerning whether anyone knew of any actual pd healings, I would like to propose the following. I would request that if anyone knows of, or has heard of, actual pd healings, miraculous or otherwise, that they please forward me a detailed description of the healing. The description should include: 1) patient info - sex, age (at diagnosis and at healing), general state of health, pd meds, etc. 2) healing method & where occurred & date 3) witnesses and other evidence (video, Doctor's report, etc.) 4) post-healing condition (how long since, is it permanent and complete still today, etc.) 5) contact info either for those involved or for yourself (you may want to just do yourself, and whomever I forward this too, can follow up with you more formally). I would also like to include not only those who have been completely healed, but also those who have had pd maybe 20 years or more, with little or no progression, especially if they accomplished this with little medication or other conventional treatment, or did it via altternative medicine. Even tho' I have a positive outlook in this area, I don't really anticipate being overwhelmed with responses (which is in part why I'm offering to do this!). On the other hand, if there are alot more happy endingss than expected, believe me, I won't complain. I have numerous reasons for proposing this. With the passage of the Udall Bill, funding will be provided for a PD database. I tthink that this should not only contain the standard info on all those who don't fare so well with the disease (the majority), but also those whose lives are minimally affected (the minority). Perhaps in finding out the common denominators among the latter, we can hopefully more effectively help the former. If someone has already begun seriously collecting this data, please let me know, and I won't then waste time duplicating another's effort. I also believe that the more we see & hear such positive stories, the more we believe in the possibility of the same for ourselves. Whether our cure eventually comes in the way of conventional or alternative medicine, or even by miracles, we can help speed up that process by simply believing. (Again, if someone has already begun collecting this info, please also not only inform me, but also please keep the group here apprised of your progress. Frankly, I have my doubts as to whether this effort is already formally underway, as I have not seen any other requests for specific data of this type being made to the list. I have also yet to hear any researcher/doctor mentions any healings. In fact, all I have ever been told is that it has never happened. And even though there are definitely known cases of people surviving 30 years or more with pd, still living independently, the pd literature continues to refer to it as "relentlessly progressive." This is a double-edged sword, as I will next discuss. On the one hand it helps to secure funding, on the other, it kills hope. (WARNING - I know that this following commentary will certainly be controversial, if not maybe piss some people here off - altho' that is not at all my intent, and I apologize ahead to whomever I may offend) There may be some who are against collecting this sort of positive data, as it might detract from the concurrent effort to present pd at it's worst, in order to get greater funding. (similar in a sense to the person who recently wrote in about not presenting too positive of a picture of oneself and one's capabilities when applying for SSDI benefits). I agree that in general, when it concerns public opinion and research funding, that the best way to get attention is to be dramatic,. cuz for the majority, that is their reality (and at the moment, until I am healed, I include myself in this group). And obviously, those who are either barely affected by pd, or who have been healed, don't have as critical of needs as those who aren't. I truly think, however, (and this is solely my own opinion), that we can reach the goal of a cure for us all much more quickly by factoring in this minority (i.e., by giving their situation more attention and funding than is currently done). Believe me, I'm not belittling the efforts of those, including myself, who have fought hard for pd to be recognized for the destructive waste of life that it is, but as I'm determined to beat this thing, one way or another, I don't want to ignore or waste any possible resource. So, I look foward to some responses to my survey. Maybe once I'm done collecting them, I'll quickly sum them up for everyone. (I withold names from this summary probably). Wendy Tebay [log in to unmask]