Page created by: Melanie Waidler

Two years ago at the age of 85 my mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The first symptom she had was the way she got herself going after getting up from a chair or the couch. She'd shuffle a few steps then she was good to go. When she finally went to the doctor he did some tests and confirmed that she had Parkinson's. At first she was fine, but a year ago she really went downhill. Her memory was bad and she'd ask people the same questions over and over. She had to start walking with a walker. Everytime I called to ask how she was doing she'd always say she was tired. Her personality also changed. She went from being talkative and happy to hardly talking at all and when I'd go to hug her she didn't hug back. That's when I knew that Parkinson's was really bringing her mind and spirit down.

On April 27th, 2020 I got a phone call from my brother telling me that we had lost mom. The medical examiner said she most likely died of heart failure. I never put 2 and 2 together relating her being tired to maybe her heart getting weaker because of her disease. It was very sudden because I had talked to her a week earlier and she sounded fine. She was 87 years old.

Parkinson's disease is horrible and everybody experiences the disease in varied ways, my mother never had the trembling that often goes with Parkinson's. I hope there is a cure soon so that nobody else has to watch their loved one change in front of their eyes.