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Bob.... First, may that "little heartbeat(s)" bring you and yours nothing but happiness for many years to come! Such JOYFUL news... Something to consider.... ya might want to contact the corporate sponsors of M.J. Fox's program, 'Spin City." I'd imagine they've boned up on PD considerably more than the average corporations lately. And hey.... with the latest sh*t about the President's picadillos just now hitting the proverbial fan, I'd seriously doubt if the press or anyone would be paying any attention to whatever might be said about PD. Of course, I might be wrong and that COULD be the perfect venue and time to speak about PD, but it doesn't seem likely to me. Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: robert l dolezal <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thursday, February 25, 1999 7:31 PM Subject: We just have to keep trying >This will appear on the op-ed page of the Arizona Daily Star tomorrow morning. > > Bob Dolezal > >X-Sender: [log in to unmask] >Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 07:08:16 -0700 >To: [log in to unmask] (robert l dolezal) >From: Jim Kiser <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: You just have to keep trying >Mime-Version: 1.0 > >Bob, > >A sad, but ultimately very happy story. > >We will run it tomorrow. > >Thanks very much. > >jim > > >At 03:18 PM 2/24/99 -0700, you wrote: >>At about 9:30, Tuesday morning, my phone rang. It was Cynthia Holmes, the >>coordinator for our Arizona American Parkinson's Disease Association >>Chapter. >> >>"I have an unusual request," she began. I heard her inhale. "How would >>you like to sit on the dais with President Clinton this Thursday, and give >>a two minute talk before the President delivers his address?" >> >>It was my turn to gasp. The President was coming to Tucson to push his >>Medicare program, and I was being asked to participate. And, it turned >>out, in a big way. >> >>"You would talk about your problems with Parkinson's disease, your fears, >>the impact on your life. And," she concluded, "you would introduce the >>President." >> >>A little background. The Pima Council on Aging, which had been contacted >>posthaste by the White House, had called Cynthia, and others, looking for >>three people, each representing a different medical problem, to appear with >>the President. >> >>"They will be calling you for a 'bio' to send to the White House." >> >>A half hour - make it an eternity - later, the call came. The kind, gentle >>voice of Mary Ellen Beaurain talked to me about the role I would play, and >>asked me if I felt up to it. She also personalized her involvement, >>explaining that one of her relatives suffers from Parkinson's. Then she >>asked me the routine, and necessary, health and security questions. >> >>All went well until ... "Now for your experience with Medicare." >> >>"Uh, I am not on Medicare, not for another 16 months." >> >>An hour later, after I had suggested that a 2 minute discussion of my >>inability to secure insurance for times future, for long-term care when I >>can no longer roll over in bed, bathe or clothe myself, eat, walk, talk - >>well, you get the picture - she calls back. She was sorry, but I just >>didn't fit the White House definition. >> >>I would not introduce the President. >> >>A few hours later, Cynthia calls again. She apologizes - "This is not your >>best day" - and tells me that the corporate sponsor we had been seeking for >>our chapter for the past six months - it would be the first ever, anywhere >>- had declined our invitation. >> >>But there was a bright side - a very bright side! The business we had >>approached about the corporate sponsorship will include us in an annual >>charity raffle to benefit three organizations. "We would never have gotten >>here if it hadn't been for the corporate sponsor proposal," Cynthia assures >>me. >> >>After a minute of disappointment, I suggest "Tomorrow, let's start looking >>for another sponsor!" If a corporation will "sponsor" the "HOLLYWOOD" >>sign, if corporations will leap to sponsor - and re-name - football bowl >>games and golf tournaments, and glue their name on stadia throughout the >>land, won't someone want to be the first ever corporate sponsor of a >>disease group support chapter. >> >>Cynthia agrees. We can still find our sponsor! Maybe even SPONSORS! We >>just have to keep trying. >> >>Later, as I mull over all that has happened to me today - fleetingly a >>presidential greeter, now again a non-entity, creator of the first >>corporate sponsorship for a Parkinson's chapter, again only the creator of >>the first PROPOSED sponsorship - my phone rings. It is my daughter, Lisa, >>a fine young lady, now 35 and living in New York, who has been doing >>everything humanly possible over the past 4 years of her marriage - most >>recently in vitro - to become a mother. "I heard that little heartbeat >>today, daddy," she whispers. "There is at least one baby, and there might >>be two. You may become a double grandpa!" >> >>And I was getting down! >> >>You just have to keep trying. >> >> >>Bob Dolezal >>5319 E. Calle Bosque >>299-1030 >> >> >> >> >