World Parkinson’s day is April 11 each year. It is the birthday of James Parkinson, who in his “Essay on the shaking palsy”, published in 1817, was the first to identify what became known as Parkinson’s disease. To rephrase Billy Connolly, I wish the man had kept it to himself.
What greeting is appropriate for World Parkinson’s day? I woke up in the morning and said ” Happy Parkinson’s day!”, but that feels a bit like children saying “Happy Halloween!” on 31 October. It’s not something to feel very happy about really, although I also feel it could be very much worse. So perhaps the best way to celebrate Parkinson’s day is to just keep being strong and to use the day as an opportunity to make people more aware of the condition and to continue research on finding a cure.
Before I was diagnosed, I often wondered how I might react to having a chronic condition. Over the forthcoming blogs, I hope to describe how Parkinson’s has affected me and how I have set out to cope.
In the meantime, try this video from the Michael J Fox foundation (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqEwPqUO1Bw ).
parkinsonSpace 