Personal Stories
Inspiring stories from people living with Parkinson’s
What does hope look like? What about strength? And courage? We bring you stories about people in our community who exhibit all these characteristics and more.
I walked out of the doctor’s office after a 7 minute exam with “you have Parkinson’s Disease, here’s some meds, brochure, call me with questions and we’ll see you in 6 months” still ringing in my ears. We call him, Dr. #1. Stunned and not quite understanding the big picture yet, nor its implications, I cratered.
I'm convinced the volunteer work I did for PAR in the 80's and 90's saved my life. The time I spent as President of the Board gave me a sense of purpose I otherwise wouldn't have had. My partnership with Janet Humphreys on the Education Team gave me a chance to use my skills as a teacher to help nursing home and medical staffs learn to understand and better care for people with PD. It also fueled my love of public speaking. ...
When Paul was first diagnosed with PD, the first two things we did were to read everything we could find about the disorder, and increase his yoga practice, emphasizing those poses that had been most affected by the PD. Both moves were unusual at the time: our neurologist had no informative handouts or pointers to the literature to give us, and persons with PD were supposed to go easy on their exercise, not push it to the limit.
No one I know wants to have Parkinson’s, including me. But sooner or later, life will put real challenges in front of all of us. When I think about the nine years since my diagnosis, I find that they’ve been some of the best of my life. Because of PD, I’ve been willing to open doors to a different kind of reality — not just walk by them.
About ten years ago, my wife Randi was doing one of her very favorite things. She was shopping at Nordstrom with her best friend, Debbie. As Randi was putting on a pair of jeans in the dressing room, Debbie noted that Randi’s hands were shaking so much that she could not zip up the jeans. Debbie said, “You must really be excited about those jeans!” and Randi replied, “Debbie, I am scared, I cannot control this shaking.” ...
My story started almost a year ago when suddenly I noticed my hand writing getting smaller. I had been having other symptoms for about three years but all the experts I saw dismissed the possibility of Parkinson's, even though I have a brother who has it. I know the symptoms and the handwriting hit me like a ton of bricks. I have Parkinson's? It was followed by a frozen shoulder and then the telltale hand tremor. Finally - the "official" diagnosis came. My first thought was, "really, cancer AND Parkinson's…really??" ...
I consider myself a very fortunate woman… who just happens to have Parkinson’s. Has it changed my life… oh yes…but I have learned that the rest of the world goes way too fast and that a sense of humor is mandatory. Years ago a very dear friend told me that there are three things we need in life; someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. Keeping this thought in mind, I began to restructure my life and put things in priority. ...Check out Ben Petrick's story about life with Parkinson's:
