Friday, January 01, 2010

Good News Post

New Year. New start. New perspective. Been looking for 'a good news story' to begin the year, and found it on BBC Online. It's a day or so old, but it was today that I caught up with it. The stars of this story are John and Sue Day, both of whom suffer from Parkinson's Disease. They are stalwarts of the Montgomeryshire Branch of the Parkinson's Disease Society, working with the its very special Chair, Anne Smedley. They have been campaigning for years for a specialist nurse to help sufferers cope with the shock of diagnosis and problems with ongoing care. I'm into my third year as President of the Montgomeryshire PDS. I'm not in any way an authority on the disease, and only became involved when Anne invited me to. My biggest contribution so far was when a contact I developed through this blog made a significant contribution to the Society. The real workers are people like John, Sue, Anne and others who give their time to help fellow sufferers.

The good news is that a specialist nurse, Deborah Evans has just been appointed, and has already taken up her post, based in Newtown. Met her briefly at our Xmas drinks do, and am arranging a longer meeting in January. There should always have been access to a specialist nurse in Montgomeryshire, but in support of my New Year 'aspiration' to blog in a rather more cheerful way, I will end with the positive quote from me that the BBC's Carl Yapp included in his copy.

"A diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease brings with it a sense of shock, isolation, and uncertainty, which a specialist nurse can help deal with. For years we've campaigned for a specialist nurse to be appointed, and its wonderful news for the Montgomeryshire Parkinson's Disease Society that, finally, we have someone close at hand to give help and advice to people affected by this awful disease."

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Smile - you're on my blog!

Anonymous said...

Is there a genetic test for this disease, my father died from it some 18 years ago.

Glyn Davies said...

Alan - as befits a man from West Cork, you are a maker of smiles. Only Heledd's smile is wider.

Anon - Not much is understood about this disease yet. Even though John Day, his wife, and a close relation have the disease, its thought that this is mostly a 'coincidence'. I believe sufferers can have Parkinson's Disease for many years before any symptom manifests itself.

lilyanne said...

Anon.I don,t believe there is a genetic test for Parkinson,s,but the role that genetics may play in the development of
Parkinson,s is currently the subject of
much research.For more information on the current research,please phone the PDS
Research Team on 020 7963 9413 or email
research@parkinsons.org.uk.Anne