Page created by: Nancy Dominguez

My mom, Alicia Dominguez, was diagnosed with Parkinson's approximately 12 years ago. She had no obvious symptoms. It was "doctor day" and I had scheduled two appointments on the same day to try to be efficient with our time. In the morning she had an eye exam and her doctor asked, "do you have Parkinsons?" mom and I both looked at each other and thought the doctor was nuts. She answered "no". He responded by saying that she wasn't blinking and that was a symptom of Parkinsons. We really didn't think much more of it even commenting that the doctor must be crazy. That afternoon was the PCP. As mom was walking to his office, he asked her, "do you have Parkinsons?" I asked him why he was asking that. He said that mom's gait was unusual in that she was "shuffling" a bit. This is something that I had never noticed but as soon as he said it, I could see it. He confided in us that his father suffered from Parkinsons and that mom needed to see a specialist, a neurologist specializing in Parkinsons. He sent us to the doctor his father went to. A few days later we had the confirmation and the doctor told us that her symptoms were fortunately minimal and might continue to be that way. He prescribed meds that my mother was unable to take because of the side effects. We tried other meds finally finding a combination that seemed to not do too much harm in the way of side effects.

Life went on, but her movement became more limited. We live(d) in a two story home. I started to realize that wasn't going to work when I saw her struggling to go up the stairs. Should we move? What now? We opted to purchase a stairlift - which was not covered by insurance or medicare. So I worked out a finance arrangement with the company that sold them and my sister and I got her one of the most important mobility pieces that we ever purchased for her - there were many. We were able to stay at home which was a place she had decorated, had it all set up just the way she liked it, we were able to stay in the routine of life and that was a blessing. Through the years moms mobility deteriorated as she graduated from a walker to a wheelchair. She required 24/7 assistance in her final years and we were fortunate that we applied for and received assistance because I could not have cared for her as needed and worked to keep a roof over our head had it not been for her medicare/medicaid and finally hospice benefits.

My biggest fear was always to see her in bed without being able to move knowing that her mind was still lucid and clear. That would have been torture for her and anyone who knew my beautiful mother knew that she didn't deserve that. She was a giving and generous woman with a great sense of humor who love her family above all else. She was our matriarch and the last in the line of an entire generation of our ancestors. Most importantly she was a blessing in the life of everyone who knew her. I am so thankful that she was my mom and that I was tasked with the blessing of caring for her for 25 years and particularly through the last few years of health difficulties. She used to call me her champion. That I was.

She moved in with me in 1996 after living with my older sister for a few years. It was the best thing that could have happened. We were always coming up with things to do, places to go, business ideas. She was an artist. She knew how to sew, paint, make jewelry, dye things, you name it. If mom could conceive it, she could do it. Arts and crafts fed her soul even up to the end she was making a beautiful jewelry collection made of stones, shells, gems and that she actually named, "the Sultan Collection". :)

She loved going to Michaels, Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, Cracker Barrel and of course, Macy's. Shopping was her thing and she loved to get great deals so our first stop was always the clearance section. I have never enjoyed shopping but I loved watching her enjoy herself on these excursions. I'm so glad that I was able to take her out as much as we were able to even when she was on hospice. She used to say "esto es vida" ("this is life"). With the permission of the hospice folks, and with a nurse there I was even able to take her with me to Orlando to a big conference that I was the planner for. She was so proud of me when she saw all of the people and so many of them knew about her circumstances and walked up to her and gave her hugs and shook her hand. The hotel was amazing and gave us a large room so that we could get her around in the wheelchair and the chef made special meals for her - this was all without asking. They made it a very special trip for her and I will never forget that.

In the end, due to my mother's co-morbidities and a terrible case of Covid-19 that she was unable to recover from, our angel was taken from us at 12:16 on Tuesday, August 4. I was also seriously ill but was blessed to have been by her side the whole time and with her when she took her final breath. She died at home, surrounded by family and loving friends who were by her side and helped her through the worst of this illness. I thank God that she didn't have a bad death. That instead it was peaceful and quiet at home, just as she would have wanted. I thank God for many things. But mostly for blessing me with the kindest most wonderful woman I've ever known to be my mother.

Moms life deserves telling about - it truly does. I plan to create a beautiful memorial video and will share it with everyone to help tell her full story, which was amazing. But what I can say here is that Parkinsons is a terrible and monstrous disease that takes away your independence, your freedom to move, in many ways your dignity and ruins lives. Nobody deserves to go through these things. It's time for a cure. If mom's life can have the added legacy of helping, in some small way, to find a cure through donations to organizations like this, I know she would be very proud. Thank you all for reading this and please feel free to share if you agree it's time for a cure.