Dear Friends,
When you join the Thomas Hartman for Parkinson’s Research, you are uniting yourself with people of faith and love and charity throughout our beautiful country.
This organization is bound and determined with God’s help to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.
We have been funding the highest caliber of scientific research since our inception in 2004 and we have heard more stories from people who now have the courage to tell others that they have Parkinson’s.
We have received emails from people throughout the country who want to pray for us, donate to us, and hear the latest in Parkinson’s research.
They come to us with the look of isolation. They soon realize that they are not alone, that they are part of the wounded troops of God. But that look begins to change. They realize that they are more than their disease. They are on a new mission.
They come to realize that in some way, they have been chosen to bear this cross in life and within time, as they meet other people, they realize how much they have to be grateful for and how much they can help other people. They realize that the cross has already gotten lighter; that it is ok to struggle, it is ok to smile, it is ok to believe that their life has not ended but is leading them in a new way, to a new ministry, to a deeper understanding of God.
When I first got Parkinson’s disease, I got depressed, I did not understand why God was doing this to me and I could only picture the worst. I believed that I would be in a wheel chair, lose my voice and be paralyzed in some way. In time and with conversation with the Doctors I came to realize that we have good medicines and we have many people who are ready and willing to talk about the disease. I began to see that God did not want me or anyone else to fear life, but to believe in life. It took me a couple of years to realize that Parkinson’s was not going to be so bad. That I could still do T.V. shows, help people and do the work of God. It was at one of my Doctor’s visits that I realized that God needed me to look for a cure and to raise money to bring about a cure. So we founded the Parkinson’s Foundation and decided to have the "Cure for Sure" dinner. We asked friends to come and we wanted the people of Long Island and the country to realize that the time for keeping Parkinson’s condemned to secrecy was over. We greeted over 1,700 people to the Huntington Town House on Long Island for a Parkinson’s Dinner. Some were afflicted by it, but most came because I had done a wedding, a Baptism or a funeral for their family. Some donated alot. All were amazed when Agnes Funk gave one million dollars. All were overwhelmed by the sprit of love in the room.
I am inviting you to become part of the Parkinson’s family. You don’t have to have Parkinson’s to belong, you jut have to want the disease to go away.
We need all the help we can get. We need all the prayers you can spare. We need you to join our family. |
