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Jeanette.......well done......you've expressed your feelings eloquently and I agree .........if we look around, we've all got a lot to be thankful for...................Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone.....Joan Hartman ----- Original Message ----- From: Leo Fuhr <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 7:36 AM Subject: Fw: Thanksgiving 1999 and hope for the future > ---------- > From: Leo Fuhr <[log in to unmask]> > To: Linda J Herman <[log in to unmask]>; Barbara Blake-Krebs > <[log in to unmask]> > Cc: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Thanksgiving 1999 and hope for the future > Date: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 9:26 AM > > As I sit at my computer this morning, I am amazed at the blessings in my > life. After weeks of dry weather, the sky has opened and rain is coming > down and restoring the soil with moisture. I feel like the dry earth must > feel when the rain washes down. I am showered with encouragement from my > friends who, like me, struggle to find the silver lining to the cloud of > Parkinson's disease. > > This same month, two years earlier, when I heard my neurologist tell me, > "You may have Parkinson's disease, although at 47, you're too young.", I > felt like I had just been punched in the stomach. I'd never known anyone > with Parkinson's disease and as the doctor talked to me and my husband > about the medication he was prescribing, the probable 15-20 good years most > people with Parkinson's enjoy, the numerous new surgical interventions > being tried........I only half heard his words. I was relieved the MRI, > blood tests, etc. ruled out stroke, tumor or other deadly diagnoses, but > "Why did I have Parkinson's disease?" > > Two years later in November 1999 I still have no definate answer to the > question, "Why do I have Parkinson's?" What I know about Parkinson's has > grown ten fold. I have met people with Parkinson's. People my parents' > age or in their 50's have been at the support group I attend. People my > own age have been "introduced" via the PIEN(Parkinson's Information > Exchange Network) and I have "met" more young onset Parkinson's through > reading their stories in national magazines, especially since the PEOPLE > magazine article interviewing Michael J. Fox, who is even younger than me > and has had the disease since age 30. All of us have things in common. > > What do we have in common? We have been diagnosed with a chronic, > incurable brain disease. We are not sure what or how this disease will > effect us, our families, our communities. But one thing each of us must > have in order to keep getting up and facing each day is the support of > others and the hope that the future holds promise of > treatment/cause/prevention/cure of Parkinson's. > > Just today, 11/23/99 one of the pwp(people with Parkinson's) that posts > messages to PIEN sent information about the decade transplant survival of > implanted cells in the brain of a pwp. Not only has the pwp seen > improvement in his disease symptoms, but also new imaging mapping of the > brain of the pwp compared to brains of control people shows that the > transplanted cells of ten years ago are thriving and surviving. Now talk > about your hopes and your improvement and your successful > surgery.........WOW.......this is great news for pwp and for research in > brain disease! > > When I sit down with family this Thanksgiving 1999, I am thankful for the > blessings that shower down on me like the rain falls on the parched ground. > I want to soak up the blessings of love, health, prosperity, well being > and that all important blessing of HOPE. For without hope, my life and > yours would not be worth anything. > > Wishing you and yours a HAPPY THANKSGIVING filled with hope and blessings. > > Jeanette Fuhr:) >