Page created by: Lori Miranda

Tom Schuster was a wonderful son, brother, husband, father, uncle, grandfather and friend. He was born on September 5, 1948 and graduated from Wells-Easton High School (Minnesota) in 1966. Tom served in the Army Reserve and was a sharp-shooter. He married the love of his life, Betty Jo in 1969. They farmed, he drove semi-trucks for the family trucking company and they raised 3 fabulous children, Lori, Jason and Diana, in southern Minnesota until 1987. They moved to Baudette, MN after they purchased the Red Carpet Lodge resort, renaming it Schuster's Resort. Tom loved fishing and hunting and being on the lake whether it was the middle of summer or during the brutal cold of Minnesota ice fishing season. Tom developed a barely noticeable tremor in his early 40's. Over the next several years, the tremor gradually progressed and was ultimately diagnosed as Parkinson's disease. Initial therapy with carbidopa-levodopa provided some reduction in the shaking, but the Parkinson's was unrelenting and his tremor worsened. He began developing dysarthria and gait disturbances. A deep brain stimulator in his early 60's provided good relief of his tremors and some of the other motor symptoms. The stimulator did nothing to prevent the autonomic symptoms or the worsening of his speech, which it would not be expected to do. Over the next decade, the bradykinesia, rigidity and sympathetic nervous system complications of Parkinson's became more problematic. A cardiac pacemaker in his early 70's eliminated the near-syncopal episodes that were becoming more frequent and dangerous. The worst symptom for Tom's wife and family to cope with was the cognitive dysfunction and dementia that dominated the last 2-3 years of his life. Parkinson's disease robbed Tom of his ability to communicate coherently with Betty Jo and the rest of his family and friends and reduced a once vibrant man to a shell of the person that everyone knew and loved. Tom lost his battle with Parkinson's disease on August 6, 2023. In order to promote medical knowledge about Parkinson's disease, Tom and his wife Betty Jo, agreed to donate his brain to medical research. We hope that you will choose to donate to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in order to hasten the day when no one or no family has to suffer from Parkinson's disease.