hi all

At 11:49 2001/01/28 EST, Jim Finn wrote:
> Group -
>The diary of my "pig-cell" (xenotransplantation) experiences,
>which is located on Janet Paterson's Website, has been revised
>and updated. The "new and improved" version is available at:
>http://www.geocities.com/jimcfinn/
>
>I want to publicly thank Janet for all of her hard work in
>keeping this important story on the Web. As a result of her
>efforts I have received many inquiries, from around the world,
>about this exciting medical technology; a procedure that offers
>much hope in the fight against Parkinson's and many other
>so-far-incurable diseases.
>
>Warm regards -
>
>Jim Finn
>
>PS - There are even a couple of photos of me and
>my beloved Triumph TR7 sports car.

thanks to jim for those kind words!

a couple of clarifications, if i may...

jim's new home page is at:
http://www.geocities.com/jimcfinn/

if you hop to the 'old' address at:
http://www.geocities.com/janet313/pienet/finn/index.html

through the mmmagic of thw wwweb
you will end up at the same (and right) place!

as i said to jim privately just now,
>amid all the gloom and doom about stem cells and gwb etc
>your very existence is a light in the darkness
>i am proud to be able to draw attention
>to it and to you

a couple of years ago
jim expressed concerns about "too much publicity"

my responses then
jumped out at me again as i worked on this revision:

june 1999:

jim has my deep admiration for his courage and his determination;
jim's brain cells, however, are what really excite me [!!]

as i told jim:
> ... your brain's story needs to be told from the rooftops
>in my humble opinion
>
>the past three years have been a bit of a roller coaster with pd
>this new surgery and that old surgery ...
>this new drug and that new drug ...
>
>and all the while
>your brain has been quietly percolating away
>growing new dopamine cells...

for some strange reason
i have never felt deeply distressed by having parkinson's
[that is, after getting over the initial ignorance-caused-fear]

i have always felt that in terms of science, technology, and research
'the times they are a-changin'
unrelentingly and
irrevocably

i feel that jim's surgery is an inspiring indicator of those changes
and
i also feel that this is only the beginning

heck,
who needs michael j. fox as a spokesman???
when we have our own james c. finn
complete with pig!
(ono, not another one!)

october 1999

you said this is completely up to me and it's my call

well, my call is loud and clear and public

when you first started sending in updates
i thought that your story needed to be hollered from the rooftops
and i still do

i don't believe that any of us could get too much of your story
whether we all realise it or not

posting is not only posting for instant communication
it's how information gets into the archives

i am using my web-site as a semi-cyber-home for the list
as a means of providing easy access to the gold in them thar hills
and as a means of showing them off
we have an amazing pd resource at our fingertips
because of the archives

but more important
you are the only person i know of who has parkinson's
who is getting better

i want to know everything that happens to you
(well.... not Everything...)
and everything that gets told about you to the world

so as far as i am concerned
post away
post until you can post no more
post until the cows and the pigs come home
and whatever you post i will add to the website

publicity?
isn't that exactly what we have been itching to get?
don't restrict it now
let 'er rip!!!

my current sentiments exactly!

janet

ps
for those techno-inclined
all of the pages have been converted into 'pure' html text
which means that the width of the text displayed adapts
to the size of the window it is displayed in
which is what html is designed to do