Hello all: I 'd just like to take the time to ask for your prayers and
support for what we here in Chillicothe, Ill. have planned for National
PD awareness day. There is an artist from Chillicothe; her name is Jane
Scott. Her father was a teacher at the local high school for many years
until Parkinson's came into his life & changed things completely for his
family. Jane & a friend, Marc Esser began to chronicle the battle that
Claude Scott waged with PD. Marc's work was objective-he photographed
Claude, while Jane's work was completely subjective. Together they
produced an exhibit that is powerful, heartbreaking and breathtaking in
its sheer tour de force. The exhibit, titled: "The Letting Go: A
Parkinson's Story" was shown at Bradley University for a time 1995-1996.
After some recognition by a national PD organization, it started to tour
the country, only to be pulled before it's tour was completed. It has
since been gathering dust in a building at Caterpiller. Well, I met this
remarkable woman recently & we became fast friends. Her father had died
in the meantime and while it has been painful for her to take another
look at this work, she has agreed that it must be used to help promote
awareness and hope in finding a cure. To this end, we have been working.
Here is a brief look at what we have been doing-We have scheduled the
work to be shown at Shore Acres Park in their beautiful, Tara-like
building overlooking the Illinois River, on the 10th & 11th of April.We
have been in touch with Susan Reuse (National Coordinator APDA Young PD
Information & Referal Center) who has already helped us out with a large
banner and a promise of materials to be used as handouts and other
information that we may need. Yesterday, joined by my friends, Sandy
Norris & Carter Stewart (fellow PWP's), we were interviewed by a TV
reporter from our local station, who has also ssaid that she would be
our spokesperson. She gathered enough info to do a series of stories on:
1) the internet connection-the cyber support that we have found in our
pd chatroom which eventually brought the three of us together. We had
not met face-to-face before. 2) We talked about my upcoming collegen
injections for which i will undergo harvesting of skin cells on March
19th. After 8-10 wks. to grow the collegen, it will be injected into my
vocal chords to help me speak again. As far as we know, this will be the
first time that this procedure will have been done in the Midwest. 3)
The actual plans for our PD Awareness Day. As plans unfold, there will
be more interviews.
My friend & co-hort, Tom Kelly (another PWP) is in charge of
contacting the
national organizations and seeing what kind of interest we can generate
there. The mayor of Chillicothe (whose uncle had PD) & the newly-elected
alderman (whose father & father-in-law both have PD) have both pledged
their support. The local newspaper interviewed us after the TV station
did. We have people working on t-shirts, refreshments, and finally
corporate sponsorship-to put this powerful work back on the road where
it can educate the public & raise, I hope awareness & money & help us to
find a cure! Sincerely,
--
Joan E. Snyder (47-8-10) <[log in to unmask]>
"In the depths of winter I finally learned there
was in me an invincible summer" Albert Camus
http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/snyder/page1.htm
