Page created by: Leslie Schneider

Bill's Parkinson's Disease showed itself following an eight hour, traumatic back surgery. The doctor thinks he might have had Parkinson's for several years but the assault of the surgery brought it to the fore. He'd been showing some small symptoms for years, which he wrote off to old age. After all, as one Neurologist told us, what did we expect? He was pushing 80. It took nearly three years to get a diagnosis.

After the surgery, in the space of about eight months, Bill went downhill dramatically. He was recovering from the surgery, walking straight and tall, exercising, doing well. Then he said, "Les, something's wrong." And he was right. After his diagnosis, he was initially very over-medicated and couldn't hold down food, think, or stay awake. He lost 70 pounds. He fell repeatedly, and we were going it all alone.

As time went on, this beautiful man began to lose the very things which had always defined him. He had never asked his body to do anything it couldn't do. He had remained vigorous into old age, and we had the optimistic belief that it would remain so. Then things started to happen. His gait slowed, he developed a stoop, his balance failed him. The side effects of the meds became a problem to a man who had been on no medication before he was diagnosed. Now he was taking many pills--many--three times a day.

Though his losses were so complete, and the rapidity of his decline so alarming, Bill didn't give up. He faced down Parkinson's in the same fashion he'd faced every other set back: with optimism and drive. I credit