How Do I Help Find a Cure?

Do you have Parkinson's Disease or does someone close to you have PD? Do you want to do more to help find a cure? Then this is the post for you!

My Mom has PD and broke her hip in a fall last September. I was finally tired of sitting on the sidelines so I decided to help find a cure by joining Team Fox, the volunteer fundraising arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease. (http://www.michaeljfox.org/) Deciding to help fight back was one of the best decisions I ever made. I know that the cure is out there and we just have to find it. The people I have met through Team Fox have been amazing and are truly an inspiration.

For anyone else that is interested in helping to find a cure here are several resources that can help you on your way.

1. Team Fox- http://www.teamfox.org/- Join a team that is working to make a difference in the lives of people living today with Parkinson's.

2. Focus on a Cure- http://www.focusonacure.com/- This charity is run by Ann and Ken Glowienke and raises money to fund research and ultimately a cure.

3. Parkinson's Unity Walk- http://www.unitywalk.org/- This walk is held each year in April in Center Park in NYC. I attended last year and was amazed at the turn out.

4. American Parkinson Disease Association- http://www.apdaparkinson.org/- This organization helps to organize Walk-a-Thons all over the country. Visit the site to see if a walk-a-thon is scheduled near you or for help in starting your own.

5. Hope For a Cure- http://www.hopeforacure.org/- Visit this site to learn about ways Hope For a Cure is working to find a cure.

6. National Parkinson's Foundation- http://www.parkinson.org/- You can donate to the NPF to help fund research

7. Parkinson's Disease Foundation- http://www.pdf.org/- Another private foundation working to find a cure

You can also always work to raise awareness of this disease by talking about it and letting people know how difficult it can be to live with or watch someone you love with PD. The more people realize that this disease is not just a small inconvenience or only affects a few people the more we can do to help find a cure and stop people from suffering needlessly from Parkinson's.

Good luck whatever you chose!
Karen

PS- Please send me any other links to organizations that you believe are useful in our journey to a cure.

Speech Therapy

I was at the Parkinson's Unity Walk (http://www.unitywalk.org/) with my parents back in April when a woman suddenly stopped my parents and began talking to them about Speech issues and Parkinson's. She was telling them about a type of speech therapy directed especially for Parkinson's. My Mom does not experience any major issues with her voice, but I found listening to this woman fascinating. I had no idea that someone had developed a special speech therapy program geared largely towards Parkinson's. The name of the therapy is the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) and the website is http://www.lsvt.org/.

The woman asked my Mom about her voice and she told her that she didn't have any problems. The woman asked what she had done for a profession and my Mom told her she was a teacher. The woman said, "And that's why you don't have problems. " It seems that teachers and actors often don't experience voice problems because they are used to projecting their voices.

I thought this was fascinating and could see how a treatment could be developed if certain professions didn't experience these issues. Obviously figuring out why would help others.

My family does not personally deal with voice difficulties (at least not yet), but I have talked to other families whose loved ones have lost their voices completely. I can't imagine how trapped someone must feel in their own bodies if they have no voice and especially if they have a tremor that limits their writing abilities.

Here again is the link to this special speech therapy http://www.lsvt.org/ and also a link to another informational site I found while researching this issue. http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/farley/817/aspeech.html

Best of luck and keep on talking!