Happy PD New Year

Most people celebrate their New Year in January, mine is May 1st. At least since the first year I attended the Parkinson unity Walk in New York City. I come home and regroup and try to imagine what it is I must do in the coming year to out do what I have done in the previous year. My whole life centers around Parkinson's at the minute. Not because of the pain or discomfort but because of my obsession to find a cure. I will never personally find a cure but I dream of bringing one person from point A and one person from point B and a cure is found...Not for just PD but all Neurological Disorders. I watched St. Louis draw in 71,800 people for the Koman Race for the Cure and netted over 3 million and I say why not us. They started with 200 and look what 10 years have done. The Unity Walk pulled over 15,000 people and netted over 1 million and this was our 16th walk but LOOK OUT NEXT YEAR. My little team collected $600 the first year and and came so close to $14,000.00 this year. Every penny of that went to research. Never in my farthest dreams would I have imagined Kimberly Clark would be asking me to blog in behalf of their new program "Not On My Watch", helping to stop the spread of infectious disease in hospitals. I have lost very close friend this year as I know you have too who went in for elective surgery and never made it out because they contracted a deadly infection while in the hospital. Check this out it might save you or a loved ones life. Something is being stressed to me from an unknown source right at this moment. No one is useless. till the very last moment we can still communicate with our eyes. Just because you have been diagnosed with a chronic disease, don't give up. Find a quiet spot and give some thought to what one thing you might do to help the community, whether it be the cancer, Parkinson or whatever community...and do it regardless what those around you say. The first thing you will hear is you cannot do that because you are too sick.....the less you do the sicker you will get and the more your mind will slide...Tell your mind it's twenty and see if it will go along with it..love ya Pokie

Strawberry Fields Forever

"Strawberry Fields," the memorial to John Lennon in Central Park. This is where I started my first Unity Walk three years ago and where I will go and sit on the bench and think back to the sixties for just a moment before I carry on in the 2010's next week. This year more than any other year before the walk my mind is swimming with ideas for fund raising and writing and poems for the coming year....realizing that only superman could pull all that off and live. I am " very aware of the " paying forward " principle and believe in it. I have said long before anyone mentioned an economy crisis that we needed to "Get Back" "Get Back to Where we once belonged" It's simple if you try and rewarding in many ways. I'm not saying go back to the getto and get killed or deal drugs. I am saying "Get Back" inside where YOUR happiness is and make YOURSELF smile by paying BACK or FORWARD and creating your "Strawberry Fields Forever"..................love you Always Pokie