My Parkinson Story is a weekly column featuring member of our community, sharing their stories with PD. We are interested in sharing a wide array of experiences, including yours! PD looks different in everyone, and affects everyone differently, including friends and family of those with PD. If you’d like to share your story on our blog, please email us.
My symptoms started in 2007. I noticed increasingly difficulty using my right hand for grasping items, writing, playing guitar, turning a screwdriver.
After many doctors and many misdiagnoses, in 2009 I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson Disease.
"Shocked". "Confused". "Heartbroken". My family and I went through all the standard emotions I suppose. I look back to the person I was in 2009. Physically, I want to be that guy again. What I thought was such a burden THEN is barely a challenge compared to what I'm facing just 12 years later. Mentally and emotionally... No, I don’t want to be that guy. I've come too far from the day I heard the word “Parkinson's.”
Parkinson's has slowly taken things from me. I'm not the guitarist or fisherman I used to be. Driving is limited. Things I took for granted like washing my air, weeding a garden, eating with a fork, trimming my beard, typing, writing or even folding laundry or getting dressed became daily challenges. Sometimes they are impossible tasks. Even after having Deep Brain Stimulation surgery this past September, I'm still physically and cognitively nowhere near where I once was.
But— and believe me I'm not the "eternal optimist"— Parkinson's has also given me a lot, namely perspective and purpose. When I was first diagnosed I told myself "I am NOT going to let this disease define me!" The thing is, it wasn't until I embraced Parkinson's and let it define me, that I was able to turn my own attitude around, and turn my attention towards helping others.
Parkinson's introduced me to some truly wonderful and dedicated people. It has taught me what's important in my life (The 4 F's: Faith, Family, Friends and Fishing). And Parkinson's has afforded me the opportunity to help others (hopefully even inspire them to live better lives).
See, I feel that each person has certain gifts God gives them. If each of us dedicated those gifts (talents, financial resources, time, etc.) towards addressing just one problem, just imagine what our community, our state, our country— heck, our planet— would look like? We can change the world.
It starts with that one thing.
