My name is Cindy Casey. I am a Registered Nurse licensed in the state of California. My background has been primarily in Medical Specialty Intensive Care, where I have worked both as a charge nurse and a bedside nurse for the past 16 years. I have had Morgellons for over 10 years and since 2006 have been unable to continue as an ICU nurse. Currently, as my health permits, I volunteer my nursing skills at TBD Medical Associates in San Francisco where we see over 200 Morgellons patients.

I have been actively involved in the Morgellons movement since 2004 after realizing that thousands of others are suffering with the exact same symptoms as myself. It was hearing from all of you that gave me the power to never give up on this mission. Morgellons Disease will be understood in my lifetime or I will have died trying.

I want to thank all of you for being here. I also want to thank those who are unable to be here physically but are with us in mind in spirit on our journey for the recognition and research of Morgellons. TOGETHER we will get the answers we need. The patients who have this disease....all of you, play the most important role in getting this disease the recognition and research it deserves. TOGETHER, we have become a powerful force and today we reflect on our accomplishments. The CDC now recognizes Morgellons as a disease and has promised us a thorough investigation. Morgellons community...this is progress and I am very excited.

I would also like to express thanks to those that have given us credibility. I thank the medical professionals that have acknowledged this disease publicly and gone beyond medicine to try to provide symptomatic relief. I want to thank Ginger Savely, NP and Dr.Raphael Stricker, for their recognition of this illness. I also want to thank my dear friend Dr. Greg Smith, for his endless work in the Morgellons movement. I want to thank Mary Leitao for beginning the registration process and I also express gratitude to Deborah Altchuler of the NPA, who was the first to bring this to the attention of health departments and medical professionals back in 1995. I want to thank Dr. Randy Wymore, Dr. Rhonda Casey at Oklahoma State University - Center for Health Sciences, truly a Medical School of higher learning, where compassion outweighs arrogance, and where medical curiosity has brought about change. I want to thank Dr. Citovsky and his peers at Stony Brook for his work on agrobacterium as a potential factor in the understanding of this illness. Most of all, I want to thank my dear husband, Chas for being there, giving me strength, helping me focus. Mostly I thank him for drying the many tears that the pain and frustration of this disfiguring disease has caused and for promising me that he will never give up on our Morgellons Disease Mission.

My heart goes out to all of you who are suffering with this debilitating illness. I understand, as much as anyone can understand, all that you have gone through and all that you have endured in your quest for medical attention. We have all been disappointed by teaching hospitals and universities we counted on to help us. Together, we are powerful force in making a change in the way this patient population is treated. We are beginning just now after many years of hard work, to see a flickering light at the end of this long, dark, and lonely tunnel.

I am hopeful, as we continue on our journey that our mission has progressed to a point where each and every patient will be listened to and taken serious regardless of how bizarre our symptoms sound. As this investigation begins, I want to thank the CDC for hearing our concerns and for stepping up to the plate and doing an investigation that will mean as much as life itself to this patient community.

As we move forward, I am hopeful for open communication between the CDC and this patient population. My hope is that health departments and medical professionals across the nation will be alerted of the investigation and that from this day forward, all of these patients will be taken seriously with a sincere desire to understand the etiology, management, and cure for Morgellons Disease. My hope is to find answers and to work proactively with every institution, agency, activist group, research organization, as well as with every patient experiencing these bizarre symptoms. My hope is that we pave a road for future generations of Morgellons patients so that they will be treated with compassion and kindness, and will have the opportunity to get treatment and medical help in the management of this disease. My hope is for the stigma of a delusional disorder to be lifted so that all patients can be open with their health care providers, and never be afraid of the negative aspects of 'going public'. My hope is for a cure for Morgellons so that these thousands of affected families can resume their lives.