Page created by: Richard D. Carlson

About 1984, Lin noticed a "twitch" in her hand. It started as just an annoyance without any cause. Lin lead a very busy life as a wife, mother of 3, working 1 full time job, a 1/2 time job and occasionally cleaning homes for a home builder prior to the owners moving into the homes. Be a very determined person, she was not going to give into her "inconvenience". It is just an annoyance anyway she would say. As time passed, she noticed more of the twitches and finally saw a neurologist on the advice of her family doctor. It was a total shock to her to hear the words " you have Parkinson's disease".After all, she was only 35 years old.! Parkinson"s disease is just for older people anyway ! Lin continued to maintain her very busy life, she was not going to let this disease slow her down ! She continued to work 2 & 3 jobs. About 4 or 5 years later, the tremors were getting worse [they were in her right hand] and had started to notice some shaking motion in her upper arm. The doctor she saw was a well known neurologist named Dr Paul Schanfield. Lin would have appointments about every 6 months to try to control the tremors. Soon the tremors spread to her left hand and arm. Life was becoming more difficult to manage . But being the determined person she is , this "inconvenience" was not going to win this battle ! Lin continued to try to lead a normal life in spite of the Parkinson's disease, " I will not let this win " she would say . Day after day, she would continue on working her jobs, managing the household .In 1991 our son was graduating high school in June and our oldest daughter was getting married at the end of May the same year. She took control of the multiple tasks that needed to be done to manage 2 big events in our family within 2 weeks of each other. Her stress level was high but she proceeded to do her normal outstanding job of handling each celebration ! Life finally went back to normal for about 7 years until our son ,Brad, and his girlfriend Stephanie got married. Lin jumped in with both feet in helping create a perfect wedding for the 2 of them. But the stress level for her had taken it's tremors had increased along with her dyskinesia. In the year 2000, she decided to retire from work at he age of 50, Enough was enough, she finally had to give in to saying that she had Parkinson's disease ! But that didn't mean that she was actually giving into the disease. She managed the household as usual except for the occasional bad day, when the Parkinson's was just more than she could handle. She finally allowed the disease to grab part of her life ! She told herself that the Parkinson's was still not going to win this battle ! The doctor visits started to increase more and more for medication adjustments. Still she battled on to fight this disease . Her tremors and dyskinesia were gradually getting worse, Year after year, she keeps fighting trying not to give into this merciless disease. Around the year 2015, she finally said the words " I have Parkinson's disease". But She is determined Not to give in! Lin has seen her only granddaughter get married and just recently she has been blessed with a great grandson ! I tell all the people that I know that she is the toughest person I have ever known. She has battled this terrible disease for over 37 years now. We have been married for 54 years now and God has blessed me with every year, But Lin has with God's help battled this terrible disease every step of the way !