Parkie Day and a New Bike

Parkinson's Awareness Day today. The estimate is ten million worldwide and growing quickly if not, exponentially. The most effective medication was discovered in the 1940's and has been in use since the 1960's. Some people are helped by DBS...think tiny holes, tiny wires, electrodes deep, deep in the brain and a battery pack in your chest. Exercise helps mitigate symptoms. There is no cure. It sucks. There are worse things.

This month marks five years since my diagnosis. And I am celebrating the incredible people who have shared this walk with me, my ever- supportive family and friends, and the funny, brave, bright Parkies whom I never would have met, had my brain cells not decided to do the dance of death.

And mostly I want to celebrate the guy in the photo on the front of the bike. He took my diagnosis in his stride and then modelled grace and courage beyond imagining as Lewy-Body Dementia eroded his physical and mental capacities...in the blink of an eye, it seems. I see him every day. I miss him every minute.

Chances are that if we crack the PD nut, we also crack the LBD nut. Wouldn't that be grand.

In the meantime, I will keep pedalling for us both, as fast and as hard as I can.