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Dear List-family.... The Daily News, a Los Angeles local newspaper, has an article today (Dec.7) called "Parkinson's Out Front: Living with Parkinson's disease." This article was born out of entertainer Michael J. Fox's speaking out about his having PD, and is primarily devoted to those who also found themselves with the disease while in the prime of life. The article was factual, and painted an honest picture of what it CAN be like living with PD. In my own case, I believe that only some of the negatives in my life were mentioned, rather than the more balanced view of both the negatives AND positives which I had conveyed during the interview (because I DO have positive times and events in my life). Consequently, I felt I came across in the article as kinda pitiable -YUCK! I certainly didn't try to convey THAT as I was interviewed! However, I DO recognize the reporter was trying to get across to the general public just what a terribly destructive force Parkinson's can be in the lives of those who must live with it, so with effort, I CAN understand where she was coming from when she stressed the negatives. ASIDE: Perhaps what I've come to accept as a "decent, considering-what's-going-on-within-my-body kinda life" IS viewed as negative, even horrifying, to someone like the reporter, an active person of 26? Since I've just passed the 24 years-with-symptoms-of-Parkinson's-mark, which is nearly half of my life, it's conceivable I don't even remember what a "normal" life WITHOUT Parkinson's is like any longer... Oops! I digress..... While my name starts the article off - that, and a simply GODAWFUL picture (blushing), several other Parkies who have had PD since they were in their thirties and forties, when the first PD symptoms made themselves known, are also quoted and helped to really flesh out the picture of what it's like living under the PD-gun. Considering limitations in print-space as well as time constraints imposed by having a deadline to meet, the reporter was none-the-less still able to get a LOT of valid information into the page-and-a-third long article. Her empathy was present throughout the article as well... a nice feeling. By the way, tomorrow, along with several other PWP - some on the stage and others a part of the audience (I'll be in the latter group), I'm going to be interviewed on "The LEEZA Show," a nationally syndicated TV program, which will air, as I understand it, sometime within about a week of the taping. I pray this public momentum keeps growing, and that Michael J. Fox, now that he's started the ball rolling, will step into the void by becoming a vocal and visible Parkinson's advocate where he's so very much needed. Anyway, as soon as I can get someone to scan the article for me, I'll post it onto the List for ya all to read. Barb Mallut [log in to unmask]