The only person I knew that had Parkinson's was Michael J. Fox and in 2015 I was told that my gait was off and that I had neuropathy of the stomach. I was also losing my memory. In fact, there were days that I couldn't even remember how to get home, which was quiet scary. I would pull in a parking lot and call my sister to ask her how I need to go so I could come home. Then the diagnosis came April, 2016, that I had Parkinson's and my world around me became a whirl-wind. I didn't want to believe the doctors. Nobody in the family had Parkinson's as far as my sister and I knew so I called wonderful cousin in Arizona who is a doctor. He said, "My dear cousin, you have Parkinson's and the doctors are treating you correctly." He continued to tell me that it is not passed down in the family and that he does not know anybody in the family that has it. With all that has been going on it has been difficult on my 12 year-old granddaughter who has her own problems and she makes every effort to take care of me and make me smile everyday.
My family has been very supportive especially my sister. I have been depressed and for eight months I have been trying to get disability.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today. The Foundation is the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, with more than $2 billion in high-impact research funded to date.
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