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>The 20/20 Segment which features PD and Joan Samuelson will be aired on >Monday, 10/11/99. We just finished watching the program and must congratulate Joan on her awesome presence and grace. She was able to effectively describe the burden of PD while gently focusing on the inequity of funding at the NIH for politically popular diseases vs. those with little 'star-power' to present their case. I was shocked to discover through this 20/20 program the lack of funding for Diabetes - one of the most common and devastating diseases in my clinical practice. While AIDS receives in excess of $200 per patient, Diabetes (which effects 15 million Americans) receives $28. PD receives $78 - a paltry amount, for sure, but still considerably more than Diabetes. Both Diabetes and PD are on the brink of a cure - something that can't be claimed by the leading causes of death in the U.S. It would seem more fiscally responsible to fund programs with a high possibility for a cure first in an effort to eliminate social security disability payments for that population - but then I have a vested interest in one of those diseases. At any rate, the PD community was well served by this 20/20 program, IMHO, and I am very proud indeed of our representative, Joan Samuelson. ----- God bless Mary Ann Ryan (CG Jamie 60/20)