"Turning a personal tragedy into public good

Son marvels at reach of a Web site he created following the death of his mother from a baffling disease called PAN"

"Early in 1998, Florence Becker of Valencia, suddenly became ill. She had developed a low-grade fever, intense headaches, frequent nosebleeds and was extremely tired."

[...]Her son, Ed, created a Web site [...]can be reached at www.pansupport.org. [...]

Soon doctors with an interest in PAN were tapping in and chatting with patients[...]

Last month, the network commemorated its fifth year with the release of a resource CD, "Living With PAN 2004: An Internet Guide to PAN and Autoimmune Disease."

The CD is a collaboration between Becker and Birgit Wiedenmann-Naujoks, a multimedia developer in Hamburg, Germany, who joined the network after her mother was diagnosed with PAN. She's also launched a German mirror site to Becker's. [...]"