is almost overwhelming and that's not me.

I have been through a lot in the last 8/10 years with my grandson and my sister and now a month ago my brother and brother in law a month before that and I held onto it. My own diagnosis didn't see me break down either.

But after seeing Mike on Katie Couric it has been like a pall came over me and the tears are there, their here now. why?

I fear for him, maybe, I fear for myself, maybe or do I fear for us all now.

Will there be enough of those with the courage to stand up with Mike out there to win this battle or will the will of one man continue to plague mankind.

How can we value American and Canadian children and yet kill the children of the world, but of course we don't aim at them they are just in the way of our guns and tanks. Those we don't kill we let disease kill or we watch as they starve to death.

What have we become?

Halloween is upon us and the kids here go door to door for treats and who knows maybe razor blades and needles in apples. I have refused to give out treats for years now as I would want them to stop this and have parties instead. spoil their fun, ya, save them misery I hope.

What have we become spoiling the fun of innocent children.

What have I become doing it?

be part of the solution.

yes having halloween parties does stop some from trick or treating. but not all. we had over 100 kids last year. i didn't want to hand out candy that parents are just going to toss. what a sad thing for those kids? i hand out little fun things. halloween trinkets if you will. sparkle pencils, crayins, plastic rings, ghost shape erasers.

help educate the kids. they see michael j fox on tv. my kids see my father. his case IS real to them. as it is to their friends. my daughter is 12. her friends saw mjf on tv. he has the same thing as "lil'monkeys" grandpa. it's not a nameless disease. not a disease to them that actor has. but a disease that they know somebody with.

this generation has courage and spunk. the world may be different and not the same fun as before. these kids are part of the future of a cure. i won't give up on that.

i really at am a loss for your sadness thelma. i wish i could make it go away. i can't. but you can know that your sadness and tears were heard.

my hugs, prayers and good thoughts are yours, you pick.

Thelma..Micheal has us all standing behind him cheering him on..We may not be there visually, but we are there in spirit

As for the will of one man continuing to plague mankind..Gods will will prevail

Thelma,

I started a post and then got a phone call. The call was from someone from this forum. Which is what I wanted to say to you. There aren't just illnesses anymore. There are illness communities. And what happens when you put a bunch of people together? Just about anything!

Mike Fox has a tremendous responsibility on his shoulders - that interview was powerful, but he says he is up to the challenge. The reality of what his illness looks like is something the entire world is trying to accept this week. ...some probably find it easier to think he is faking....denial. Have your cry, it's natural, and then you'll go on being Thelma the sparky one. Mike has enough support, humor and wits to go many more rounds. He is probably snoring or yelling in his sleep now or something....lol

paula

Yes, there is so much wrong with the world we live in.

And, Thelma, I can truly identify with you about the fear of the future. Ask Paula what she found me doing one night about four years ago. She walked Iinto the hotel room we were sharing and found me with a huge pile of used tissue on the floor next to my bed. I had been sobbing for two hours..."I don't want to do this!"...I must have said that a few hundred times that night.

Our government needs to be overhauled. My dermotologist said to me on Tuesday, "Not in our life time, but definitely in our great grandchildren's lifetime, or their children's lifetime, there WILL BE a revolution in America". Wow, I have never considered that as a possibility.

Darfur is happening. It is in advertisements in magazine, but rarely in the news.

China could call in our "paper" debt tomorrow. I can only imagine what that would bring about. America owes them so much debt, but we never hear about it, nor do we consider the consequences of that debt being "called."

We can't allow our children to walk the neighborhood of most cities.
We can't allow them to be a school bus stop alone.
The list is far too long.

BUT, AS PAULA SAID, WE ARE A COMMUNITY and WE CAN DO SOMETHING for our community...GRASSROOTS.

From our respective distances (our home cities/states) we can stand with Michael J Fox. Whether it is a simple phone call or a march to a Congressional office...there is always something to be done.

It could be kicking and screaming at the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies. It could simply we getting the word spread to the "healthy" community by speaking to groups and writing letter to editors and op/eds.

Being proactive...Being involved...keeps me PD-sane. I have to shove the world aside each day and do what I can humanly do to help make the world a better place in my own little, tiny way.

"There is no limit to what we can accomplish if we empower people with Parkinson's."
Perry Cohen, Ph.D., Project Director
Source...homepage...www.pdpipeline.org

p.s. The two star banner to the left represents...my son, the top star, who will be in Iraq soon...and my youngest granddauter's father, the bottom star, who has survived four tours of Afganistan. You would think one, maybe two, would be enough for one soldier. Yes, the world is a scary place.