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.
The author and his wife, Sarah.
I know this is going back a ways but does the name “Biosphere 2” ring a bell with anyone? Biosphere 2 was a sprawling 40-acre complex of steel and glass structures just north of Tucson, Arizona built in the late 80s in an attempt to create a fully-enclosed, self-sustaining ecosystem. You can Google the details if you like, but one of the most interesting struggles they encountered during the research teams’ two years in the bubble had to do with trees.
Inside the biosphere, fruit-bearing trees had been planted and in the well-regulated soils grew quickly. However, as the trees grew taller, the wood remained weak and most fell over under their own weight. The problem… wind!
Unlike the trees inside the enclosed environment, trees in the wild must endure storms and strong winds. As the winds buffet the trees, the trees push back against the wind by developing “stress” or “reaction” wood that has a different structure that gives the tree strength to endure the storm. The stronger and more frequent the wind, the more the tree resists, and the stronger the wood.
Parkinson’s disease is a disease that requires us to fight back. It is a condition that as it takes away, it forces us to focus on what remains and fight to keep what we can for as long as possible. If it softens our speech, we sing and shout with what remains. If we can no longer run, we walk as far and as fast as we can. When we can no longer walk, we roll with the best of them.
Steve & Sarah kayaking.
The Parkinson’s fight also goes beyond the physical. It forces us to continue to engage our minds by finding new joys and hobbies. It challenges us to surround ourselves with a community that encourages and strengthens us. It gives us the choice to succumb to depression or to strive upward toward a life of thankfulness and compassion for others fighting their own battles.
Diagnosed at age 36, I am now 51 and have been living with Parkinson’s for 15 years. Fighting back is not easy. Parkinson’s is an unrelenting wind that blows from all directions. But as we resist, we are strengthened, and we work continually to retain what we can for as long as we are able and encourage others to do the same along the way.