Page created by: Thomas Pendell

In 2013, my mother, Joyce Pendell was first diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. There was a lot of initial confusion about the diagnosis. Some doctors' she visited had the opinion that it was not Parkinson's that she was dealing with and may have simply been a tremor issue. But, as a few years dragged on after the initial diagnosis, several strange health ailments started to harp on my Mother. Sometimes it was difficult to decipher which health issue was related to Parkinson's but it became very apparent to me and other family members that something was not right and it most likely was related to Parkinson's. The first main issue she dealt with was migraine headaches that were so detrimental that it made her bedridden for months at a time where she would need consistent bedside assistance. The migraines gave her a sensitivity to any light or sunlight and she would lie in bed for months with sunglasses on and with the windows completely blocked out by drapes and even cardboard boxes to block out any light. She also had issues with her stomach that would make her queasy for long periods of time. A lot of her original physical ailments like nausea, dizziness, light sensitivity, restlessness, headaches and tremors may sound minor but she dealt with them on a consistent basis over long periods of time (usually 4 to 6 months) and these ailments seemed to take turns in severity over the years. These were difficult days as she mostly wanted to stay in bed all day and she lost a lot of weight. But, this was just the very beginning of her decline in health.
Mom was always very sensitive about her tremors which caused her arms and legs to shake uncontrollably at times but, despite of her ailments, she continued to fight back against the disease. She went through periods where it looked she was rebounding from the disease, gaining weight, eating healthy and exercising. In an effort to fix the tremors she decided to have non- invasive (if there is such a thing) brain surgery that surgically inserted a device into her brain that would monitor her tremors and ultimately eliminate them. The device has been described to me as something similar to a pace maker (for the heart) but this was to control her tremors. The surgery was a success in that it helped her mostly eliminate the tremors, however, after this surgery was completed it left her traumatized for several months and led to a more persistent decline in her mental health.
This is the part of her life story where the Parkinson's disease went into full effect and would not quit. Mom became very agitated about every little health issue as she became extremely depressed about life and would openly admit that she just wanted to die, which was totally unlike a woman that once enjoyed life to its fullest. She no longer was the same person that I enjoyed a lifetime of memories with. She now had extreme panic attacks where she thought that the walls around her were collapsing. Her brain was misfiring responses causing a daily fight or flight response away from the brain -created- anxiety. The anxiety was so extreme, that she would demand that you call an ambulance or to bring her to the emergency room because she felt like she was going to die. And so we brought her to the emergency room at the hospital several times but they would always find that nothing physically was actually wrong with her and they would do nothing to help her. One ER visit led her to being admitted into a mental health ward because she was deemed a suicide risk as she quite commonly would vocalize her frustrations that she wanted to pass on. After that we decided to reach out to other establishments for help. We tried bringing her to the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center, Barrow Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona, which is one of the best Parkinson's disease experts in the country. But, my mother's conditions left the finest neurologists in the country without any plausible answers to what was causing her issues except that it was from Parkinson's disease. The prescribed medications for her depression which included strong opioids that were highly addictive did very little for her symptoms and would only last temporarily. The only thing that consistently seemed to help calm her down during the panic attacks was a CBD/ THC oil that she would take orally with tinctures (at my urging) or an over the counter remedy called CALM (which in my opinion was more of a placebo).
After about 2 1/2 years of taking turns caring for Mom, my brother Jon, Garland (Mom's man-friend) and I decided that we needed more help. We realized that a nursing home would be optimal. However, because we were still at the heights of COVID 19, we thought bringing her to a nursing home was too risky and so instead we brought in stay- at-home nurses that were friends of relatives to help care for her. The nurses were quite helpful and some became close to Mother over the months that they cared for her, but even having them did not seem like it was going to be enough for her declining health. One day we found out that her sister and brother -in -law were entering into an nursing home in North Dakota and we thought that it would be nice for Mom to be able to see them and be around them on a daily basis. She seemed motivated and rejuvenated by the idea and so we organized her move from Arizona to Grand Forks, North Dakota nursing home. At this point, the COVID 19 vaccine was readily available and mandatory for entry into the nursing home and so we were comfortable enough with the situation to make the move. We hoped that the new social setting would help stabilize her conditions with 24 hour nurse care and an elderly community that focused on keeping members active. Unfortunately, her stay at the nursing home was short- lived. She soon started losing a lot of weight, could no longer walk and could not even get out of her bed without falling down. Due to her waning health, I came to the nursing home to stay with her to try to get her to start eating again and regain some strength. However, in the afternoon of September 17, 2021, I left the room briefly to take a break and right after I left the room, Mom passed on to a better place. After years of turmoil, she finally entered a world where she could rest easy in peace.
I hope that one day we can talk about Parkinson's disease in the past tense and put an end to the family hardships that go along with it. If you are financially secure, please donate as much as you can to the cause of curing Parkinson's Disease.

-Thank you