To those who are new to the page, or those who may not have read the notes from the first Bologna  CCSVI conference when they were posted in September 2009, I'm reposting them.

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=131482162210

This coming week many of the same doctors are reconvening in Bologna to discuss ongoing studies of CCSVI.  When I was invited to the first conference in 2009, Dr. Zamboni asked me if I could help out by inviting some press from the US to cover the meeting.  I called all of my press contacts, as well as several medical writers. None were available.  One medical writer yelled at me for calling and bothering her.  She  told me "no one is interested in this."  (Her big medical story the week I called was Steven Tyler falling off stage and breaking his arm.)  I told her she was wrong.  

But things are different in 2011.  People with MS, their caregivers, doctors and activists around the world have focused a light on the proceedings in Bologna.  It turns out that people are interested in this.  Very interested.  

As the doctors reconvene and discuss all that they have learned in 18 months, as new doctors step up to the podium and bring innovative perception to the research, I'll be at home with my family.  I don't need to fly by myself to cover the meeting and post it online....because there will be many more witnesses.  There will be international press and a host of participants transcribing the presentations.  And that makes me very, very happy.

Thanks to Dr. Zamboni for continuing the research, in the face of some very powerful opposition.  Thanks to all of the doctors who have taken up this cause.  Thanks to all of you for researching, reading and sharing this information.  Thanks to those who have reached for the baton and are running forward, so I can go to a concert, make dinner, go to church, walk the dog and enjoy my weekend with my husband and son in sunny California.  And to all those in Italy, make sure to step outside during breaks, walk the lovely ancient streets and have a gelato :-)

Again, here are the notes from 2009--

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=131482162210

Here is the link to the International Society of Neurovascular Disease site and information about the conference next week:

http://www.isnvd.org/

Stay tuned.  As reports come in from the meetings, we'll be posting them all over the internet.  And who knows?...maybe that medical writer will discover that people really do care about Multiple Sclerosis.

Joan