One of them was Richard Lewis, M.D., from Harper University Hospital. However, at the time, Bud was in Florida so he went to a Florida physician on the list. As good as he was, he wasn't able to help. "But when he finished giving me a battery of tests, he told me to go see Dr. Lewis in Detroit when I returned home," Bud said. "That was the second time I'd heard his name."

A few weeks later, Bud and his wife were back in Michigan and they went to a Neuropathy Association meeting at the Troy Public Library. "In Florida, the doctor said to see Dr. Lewis. The lady from The Neuropathy Association gave me Dr. Lewis's name," Bud said. "And then we go to this meeting and - by an act of God - who's the speaker? Dr. Richard Lewis."

After the meeting, Bud introduced himself to Dr. Lewis and explained his background. A week later they met in the doctor's office and Dr. Lewis said something Bud will never forget. He said, "I don't know what you have, but I'm going to do everything I can to help you."

"Now this is a 180-degree turn from what everyone else had told me," Bud remembers. "What a difference that makes. I had hope for the first time in a year and a half."

Dr. Lewis began thumbing through the old lab reports Bud had collected and found something in a blood test from a year earlier. "He just stopped and said, 'I think I found your problem.'"