The 2nd International Transverse Myelitis Symposium was held at the Holiday Inn - Inner Harbor, in Baltimore, Maryland. The Symposium ran from Thursday, July 12th through Sunday, July 15th 2001. The Symposium director was Dr. Douglas Kerr from the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University. The purpose of the workshop was to foster an understanding of the clinical and research features of transverse myelitis and to facilitate interaction and discussion among patients with TM and caregivers. The Transverse Myelitis Association is so grateful for the hard work performed by Dr. Kerr in planning and coordinating the Symposium. The physicians from the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelopathy Center, as well as the Staff from the Center and Office of Continuing Medical Education should also be recognized. A special thanks to Philis Carbonell and Carol Kowarski for all of their hard work in preparing for the Symposium. Finally, the Cody Unser First Step Foundation provided a grant for The 2nd International Transverse Myelitis Symposium. We appreciate the support that Cody and Shelley offered to make the Symposium possible.

Dr. Kerr assembled a distinguished group of presenters for the Symposium. There were two major focuses of the presentations. The first couple of days of lectures were focused on research. There is some really important and wonderful research being preformed that offers great hope for all of those who have transverse myelitis. The second focus of the presentations centered on the issues of symptom management and treatment. The presentations in this area were very informative and helpful.

In addition to Dr. Kerr, the other members of the TMA Medical Advisory Board attended the Symposium and made presentations. Drs. Bowen, Levy and Lynn continue to make a most valuable contribution to the TMA. Words cannot adequately convey our deepest gratitude for the support and work they offer to the Association.

There were approximately 140 members from the TMA in attendance at the symposium. TMA members came to Baltimore from all over the United States, from Ireland, Australia, England and Canada. As the vast majority of our members were not in Baltimore, we have established a number of different methods for providing you with the information from the presentations. Most of the lecturers have provided or will provide an article from their presentations to be included in this and future newsletter publications. Additionally, if the lecturers provided handouts or prepared a slide presentation, Jim has posted this information on our web site. Finally, all of the presentations were videotaped. You may order a set of these videotapes using the form that was included in this mailing, or you can download the order form from the web site. You may also watch the presentations as streaming video from the web site. Jim has digitized and loaded all of the presentations to be viewed as Real-video. A free copy of RealPlayer may be found from a link on our web site. The web address for The 2nd International Transverse Myelitis Symposium is: http://www.myelitis.org/baltimore2001/index.html

In addition to the informative presentations, the weekend offered a number of wonderful social events. The Symposium began with an early registration and reception on the rooftop of the Holiday Inn. Most of the TMA members were in attendance at the reception. It was the first of many opportunities for us to renew old friendships and to develop new relationships. We also had a chance to meet many of the physicians who would be presenting over the weekend. There were many interesting discussions between TMA members and the research scientists and physicians during these social events. A dinner and tour of the National Aquarium was held on Friday evening. During the dinner, Cody Unser delivered a very inspiring and beautiful speech. A wonderful banquet was held on Saturday night. There were a number of really eloquent speeches made by TMA members during the banquet.

As in Seattle, the Sunday morning roundtable discussion was very helpful for the participants. There was a wide range of topics covered and most everyone had a chance to ask questions, to offer opinions and to share experiences about the issues in their lives with transverse myelitis. A number of physicians participated in the roundtable, which offered the opportunity to solicit expert opinions on some important subjects. We would like to offer our special thanks to Drs. Bowen, Kerr and Kaplin for their participation in the roundtable discussion and for their informative responses to all of our questions. During the Roundtable, Ann Moran took the opportunity to unveil her beautiful international quilt. It is truly a work of art, created with the skill and care of a very special person.

The 2nd International Transverse Myelitis Symposium was a tremendous success. Our members left with a great sense of hope for their futures, based on the amazing research that is being conducted by this group of scientists. We left Baltimore with a greater understanding of our conditions and more effective ways to treat the symptoms of TM. And we left with a renewed sense of fellowship, which derives from sharing this incredible journey with such very special people.