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Eight People I met along the Way. . .

Posted: February 12, 2007 at 11:37 am

Here is an article (to be) printed in the April 2007 National Parkinson Report. The Author Linda Cooper-O’Leary is a remarkable woman I met though the work of my wife and her Daughter Traci who run the Melvin Weinstein Parkinson’s Foundation.

Eight People I met along the Way…

How eight people changed my attitude toward this uninvited visitor who has taken up residence within my body…

Parkinson disease has created changes in me that are, at times, intolerable… the mood swings, the lack of focus, the depression, the pain. I take a different path now than the one I started on. One unintended benefit is that it has brought people so wonderful into my life that I just cannot imagine an existence without them. Let me tell you about eight of them…

A delightful woman whose late father had Parkinson manages a family foundation along with her daughter. Its mission is to assist those with Parkinson Disease to have a richer quality of life. The Foundation, as was her father, is named Melvin Weinstein. I have seen with my own eyes Marsha sit at her desk for hours and patiently listen to the plight of people… Marsha Anthony, you are an angel.

Dedication, Drive… I never quite understood what it must take to be a professional athlete. Cherie Zaun, a LPGA golf Professional and Parkinson Patient, has taught me to understand this. To watch her play is to experience the woman and the love of her game. Watching her arm become stiff and somewhat rigid breaks my heart. But she plays on. And she has taught me to play on as well…

Play on, Cherie Zaun!

My next inspiration is a woman from the same small town in Washington State as I had been. She does not have Parkinson; her husband is a Movement Disorders Specialist. Her personal mission is to raise money for Parkinson Disease and have a fabulous time in the process! Watching her tirelessly go through the details of a fundraiser makes me exhausted! The Arizona Chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation is fortunate to have her as a fund raiser. I am fortunate to count her as a friend. Thanks, Rhaye Mosley!

Parkinson Disease can make one’s feeling of balance and peace just go south! Theresa May, a Massage Therapist, has focused her practice on relieving the physical and mental symptoms of people living with Parkinson. She even gives her Parkinson patients half price massages! She is also a dear friend. Theresa, you have helped me more than you will know.. Thank you!

The very first person who helped me, while I was still living in rural Northwest Oregon and working full time is the Director of the Parkinson Resource Center of Oregon, Holly Chaimov. Holly responded to my first frantic emails immediately and was there in those early weeks and months, even driving a distance to visit me on my lunch break from work. She was the first helping face to Parkinson that I met. Thanks Holly, for giving a first kind face to Parkinson Disease!

The most influential person in my life was my mother who passed away in April of 2005 with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson disease. My extended family has several individuals with Parkinson’s (it is as if the lifeguard took a lunch break when our gene pool was assembled) Mom lost both of her other children to disease. Watching her endure the unspeakable heartbreak of losing two children was almost more than I could bear.

I had the honor to be with her as she left this world I wrote the following in a journal the night before she died:

“I sit in the quiet of the Hospice room, my mother dying of the disease that is also robbing me of my independence, clarity of thought and physical abilities. To see her struggle with every breath, muscles paralyzed while her limbs shake uncontrollably seems too cruel a way to die.

I look into the very first set of eyes that met me as I entered this world. The very eyes that have never made me feel a failure or shame but have only encouraged me and loved me. The very same eyes that have seen both her sons laid to rest.

I am planning to donate her brain to study of Parkinson’s disease. To discuss the details at this time seem cruel and morbid. Yet we both would stop at nothing to find the cure to this insidious curse. I touch her head and hope that science appreciates the gift that she is giving them.

My blessing is she has never known of my diagnosis. I could spare her that.

Mom I miss you more than I can say, I love you more than you will ever know, and I still admire you more each day.

Dr Donna Redman who serves as a Gerontologist and Assistant Professor at Arizona State University has taught me so much about aging adult and care giving. Donna’s humorous and informative presentations are of Saturday Night Live quality in humor and Face the Nation in accuracy. This lady knows her stuff! Donna, thanks for teaching me what I thought I already knew.

Parkinson changes lives, relationships and families…. I thank my children Tyson, Linnea and Brent Cooper for attempting to understand this complicated disease, and to understand and love me.

Through living with Parkinson, I have met many people, but one person who dug deep into my heart was my husband, Michael Meeting him I was instantly drawn to his passion for others, his good looks and his attitude on his disease and life.

I wanted some of that easy going nature to rub off on me. He made me feel like the most beautiful person in the world and understands my disease, as he has Parkinson’s disease himself and is the only I could ever want or need. I love you, Michael.

Thank you; Holly, Marsha, Mom, Rhaye, Theresa, Cheri, Donna and Michael. You have taught me by example the attributes of generosity, patience, motivation, hospitality, joy, and above all love. I join with all of you in hating this awful disease…. but I shutter to think what my life would be like had you all not been on this path with me…

Linda Cooper-O’Leary

12-23-06

Linda can be reached by requesting her email address here – just add a comment or email tom “at” tomanthony.com