"I became very weak and began to lose my balance," Bud said. "I was constantly stumbling around." Only a few weeks before, he'd been able to walk miles on a treadmill. Now he was having a difficult time walking across the room. "It was upsetting," he said. "It wasn't that painful; just a severe loss of balance and constant numbness."

His doctor diagnosed his condition as peripheral neuropathy and referred him to a neurologist at a major suburban hospital in the Detroit area. The specialist examined him, conducted a battery of tests and came back with his own diagnosis.

"He said it was diabetic neuropathy," Bud remembers. "At the time, I questioned the diagnosis because I was not diabetic." Bud pressed for more information but the doctor simply said that nothing could be done to help him.

As his condition deteriorated, he was fitted for leg braces and began to use a cane to assist in walking. He started traveling around the country to find a physician who could help. Again and again, he was diagnosed with generalized peripheral neuropathy. He got used to hearing the treatment options: "There's not much we can do to help you." One physician even told him he would be confined to a wheelchair by the end of the year.

Never ready to give up, Bud called The Neuropathy Association headquartered in New York City and spoke with the executive director. "I said, 'Who is the best neurologist in the world for this? I'll go anywhere.'" She sent him a stack of information about neuropathies and gave him a list of five outstanding specialists in the field.