I am very aware of PD, my father died with it almost 30 years ago and my husband has been dealing with it for over a decade. I have seen the various presentation in many friends who share in the diagnosis. I don’t need an annual reminder of this disease and the disruption it can cause within my home and my family. Why do we need a month to recognize it? Because there are still many people out there who haven’t had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Parkinson and his lovely disease and it is important for them to understand just what that could mean.

Sharing awareness starts within our family. I want those closest to me to see the changes this disease has brought to my husband and to our lives. I want them to know him and to love him with the disease just as they did prior to his diagnosis. And I want them to understand that it isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen. Life goes on. Along with this I want to make sure that life does go on and by that I mean we need to keep doing things. We need to go out in public and we need to interact with people who are not in the PD world so that they can see what Parkinson’s looks like to better understand. It could happen to them too and they need to be aware that it exists. One other thing I do to raise community awareness is write. I have written letters to the editor of our local paper, I post stuff on Facebook, and I write my blog. Every word I can put out there about PD helps.

Research is the only thing that will lead to a cure. I participate in research studies, one that is PD related and one that is a broader look at everyone in an effort to better understand what makes us all tick. I applaud Michael J. Fox, Davis Phinney and Brian Grant for their bravery in coming forward to do more than talk about PD. I support local and national Parkinson’s organizations to help as much as possible in the work they are doing. I live my best life possible as the CarePartner of someone with PD. Life does indeed go on and we can still make it a good one.

To dip your toe in the research pool visit the Michael J Fox Foundation and look for PPMI at https://ppmi.study.myachievement.com/ppmistudy/?utm_campaign=bg-a1b1R00000AEVPA&msclkid=e2f946561dbd110b52a622665df1a244&gclid=e2f946561dbd110b52a622665df1a244&gclsrc=3p.ds