Have You 'Googled' Parkinson's Disease Recently

If you 'Google' Parkinson's Disease today the item in the 4th position is about Google Co-Founder, Sergey Brin. This fact may not be news to most people in the Parkinson's Community as Mr. Brin is all over the PD news today. Unfortunately his mother and her aunt have PD. I saw an article earlier this week about his family, his mother's PD and the fact that the Brin family has endowed a professorship at the University of Maryland. It caught my eye since a co-founder of Google being interested in curing Parkinson's can only help my cause. However, this act of advocacy, kindness, charity, or whatever appropriate word we use, is not the reason for all the hubbub surrounding Mr. Brin and Parkinson's. The reason for the NUMEROUS news stories is that Mr. Brin started his own blog and his post from yesterday is about Parkinson's Disease and his family.

In his blog posting he reveals that through the genetic testing of his wife's company, 23andMe, he discovered that he has a genetic mutation which raises his risk for developing Parkinson's. The LRRK2 gene with the known mutation, G2019S, is a marker for the disease although not everyone with this mutation will develop PD. His mother also has this genetic mutation. It is thought that familial PD is relative rare, but there are definitely instances of several family members across generations developing Parkinson's.

I was very interested in all the news surrounding Brin's PD disclosure. First, Parkinson's "runs in my family" so obviously I have an interest in a possible genetic pre-disposition. I would love for science to be able to tell how much of this disease is genetic and how much is environmental or other factors. No one knows this information yet and the thoughts around this subject vary greatly among experts. (I have read anything I can find on this subject and the experts definitely do not agree.)

Second, I am fascinated that the blog entry is what "made the news". I only came across one article earlier this week about the Brin family endowing the professorship yet the blog entry is all over the web already. (I guess I am adding to that.)

I applaud Sergey Brin for allowing for his personal family matters to become somewhat public. I have no doubts it is not easy for someone in the public eye to share personal information so publicly. I also applaud his entire family for taking steps to find a cure and give back to the world at large. I hope that his tie to Parkinson's will help get us closer to a cure.

To read Sergey Brin's blog click on this link.

http://too.blogspot.com