--in the Holiday celebration thread, thought I'd start a new thread here about an issue dear to my heart, and I'm sure important to others . . .

How do we get the word out about neuropathy?

Yes, Johnny Cash had autonomic neuropathy; other famous neuropathy sufferers include Mary Tyler Moore and Bobby Short. Andy Griffith had a bout of Guillain Barre--acute neuropathy--that kept him sidelined almost a year. And Sister Dolores Hart--the Dolores Hart that starred opposite Elvis in several movies before taking her convent vows--has long-standing idiopathic neuropathy, and she has become a spokeswoman for research into the condition.

One of the saddest losses of the Braintalk archives were the threads many of us contributed to on how to get neuropathy a higher profile among neurological conditions. Our "famous" sufferers simply do not have the impact that Michael J. Fox is having for Parkinson's, Montel Williams/Jonathan Katz/Teri Garr are having for MS, or Christopher Reeve for spinal cord injuries--although those who suffer neuropathy are greater in number than those who suffer from those other conditions combined. Is it because many neuropathy sufferers don't have dramatic motor loss, and look "okay" (although those who suffer from motor neuropathy can be as debilitated as anyone who suffers progressive MS, Parkinson's, Myasthenia Gravis, etc.)--or is it because neuropathy is considered a secondary condition? For example, Mary Tyler Moore does an enormous amount of public work to help diabetic charities--she has Type I--but rarely talks about neuropathy . . .

What do you all think? Wish I were famous--I'm personable, articulate, and loud. But seriously, how do we raise the profile?