18/04/2013
Its Parkinson's Disease Awareness Week this week. Their campaign 'In my shoes' gives accounts of the difficulties those with Parkinsons face everyday. The charity is close to my heart as my lovely Grandad had it. Please pop over to Parkinson's UK to show your support and to gain further understanding of this cruel disease ###
These are my husband's work shoes and those of our two children, aged five and almost two. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2010, when our son was just weeks old.
He battles to put their shoes on, as his hands won't let him.
He struggles daily with his own laces and complains they're too short but perseveres and walks out the door to work with the most admirable determination. He is exhausted most of the time, but tries his hardest to keep up. He runs five miles weekly and walks an hour and a half each day as he finds this helps.
I am so proud of him - but don't tell him enough.
He tries not to get upset that his body is not doing what he tells it to. We try to ignore it when people get short with him or give him funny looks when he takes too long to do an every day undertaking, like pay someone in a shop but we know we're just at the beginning of this journey. We don't know what the future holds and we hope more can be done to slow down its progress - or even better a cure found so others don't face this uncertain future.
Thank you for all you do Parkinson's UK. We are very grateful for the support network you offer and the research you are doing.
