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Gosh Lynda,

I am sure I was looking at a different part of the elephant.=20
I didn't think or feel Barbara was putting down anybody, but the hype of
the "News-Entertainment Industry". To suggest otherwise would be to ignore
the selfless=20
giving of Barbara to this list and to many activities she commits to the
Parkinson Community. She is certainly one of my heros, and her comments did
reflect my own questioning of such "newsworthy material". There is a part
of the population of Southern California that is not part of the
Entertainment Industry nor do they fall for the P R of that Industry. I am
sorry your response to Barbara's comments were taken personally. I think it
took a bit of courage to verbalize your own feelings, So good for you and
I'm sure Barbara would agree in the encouragement of expression.

However, if one needs to find fault, here it is...she went to UCLA.

At 05:40 PM 11/28/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Barbara Mallut =AD
>In response to your scathing retort to Linda regarding: late mild stage=92=
 PD
>and brain surgery  - Kindly consider getting off your soapbox and the
>highhorse you rode in on and speak of what you know or otherwise spare us
your
>opinion!
>
>Yes people have brain surgery, in my case a thalomotomy, even in early mild
>stage PD.  I feel no need to share with you or the list my reasons and
risk an
>ignorant, spurious attack.   I know I made the right decision for me as=
 does
>my family, my 2 neurologists and the neurosurgeon.
>
>As a person in my mid-thirties with PD it=92s hard enough trying to raise a
>family, build a career, and just keep doing what I can to keep a positive
>outlook and maybe even make the world a better place.
>
>In my opinion, the PD list would be a better place if the whining,
>complaining, bitter people started a separate listserv for feeling sorry=
 for
>yourselves and for criticizing others.  The rest of us could then=
 concentrate
>on information sharing and working constructively to beat the menace PD,=
 not
>PWP or others we choose to pass judgment on.
>
>It=92s hard to believe this started with MJF being judged and criticized by=
 the
>very people who should have a pretty good idea what he is going through. =
 So
>please keep your opinions to yourself. Didn=92t you mother ever teach you,=
 if
>don=92t have something nice to say, don=92t say anything at all?
>
>With apologies for my own soapbox,
>Lynda
>------------------
>Barb wrote on 11/28/98:
>
>Date:    Sat, 28 Nov 1998 02:19:57 -0800
>From:    Barb_MSN <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Michael J. Fox articles
>
>"Linda, you quoted Reuters as saying:
>
>"said Fox is in the 'late mild' stage of Parkinson's and that he is
>hopeful..."
>
>Hmmmm.... (thinking)  Does ANYONE have *VOLUNTARY*  BRAIN SURGERY
>when they're in the "late MILD" stage of a disease?"
>
>Technically, that MAY be what the medical profession calls feeling
>so-
>rotten-that-ANYTHING-including-voluntary-brain-surgery-is-preferable-
>to-life-as-it-is.   But REALISTICALLY (and speaking as a Parkie who
>had a very successful unilateral pallidotomy 4 years ago...), when ya
>finally hit the stage where voluntary brain surgery looks like the
>ONLY OPTION, well, THAT'S *NOT* a "late MILD stage of ANY disease!
>
>When your back's against the wall, and you have little or no quality
>of life,  when you begin to think that ANY form of treatment,
>including voluntary experimental brain surgery has GOT to be better
>than life as it is... hanging onto your sanity (and not always
>succeeding) by a thread. in MY book, that's definitely not "late
>MILD" stage.
>
>Medical professionals, and news media moguls, THINK about what you're
>saying, huh?  Step outside the conventional box and THINK!
>
>Sheeeesh!  The guy has a terrible, chronic, degenerative disease, is
>young, has a great job, devoted wife and 3 little kids, plus a huge
>following, and his condition is SO bad that he opts for voluntary
>brain surgery as a last resort, and THAT'S called, "late MILD?"
>

>GET REAL!  WE know the difference between "late MILD," and feeling
>like sh*t - why can't YOU put together two and two and come up with
>four?!?
>
>Barb Mallut (spending the weekend perched on soapbox) b<grin>
>[log in to unmask],com
>=20