With April being Parkinson’s Awareness Month, I wanted to share some health news with you.
This past September, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system that affects nerve cells in the brain. In short, a person's brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. With less and less dopamine, the nerve cells die, and a person has less and less ability to regulate his/her movements, body and emotions.
For about two years, I had been experiencing slight tremors with my right arm that progressively worsened. Over time, my right arm stopped naturally swinging as I walked, and I began dragging my right foot as I stepped. I attributed the “weakness” to an old shoulder injury, and the foot-dragging to wearing flip-flops.
As it turns out, I exhibited many of the primary and secondary young-onset symptoms of the disease. The good news is, with medications and rigorous exercise, unless I am an outlier, I should be able to manage well for the foreseeable future.
That said, I encourage you to learn more about Parkinson’s. The Michael J. Fox Foundation is doing incredible things to advance research in this area. If you are feeling philanthropic, now or in the future, after donating to Deerfield, consider going to my fundraising page athttp://www2.michaeljfox.org/
All the best,
Dean
