April 2017 is Parkinson’s Awareness Month.
I thought it was worth writing a blog about how I believe awareness could help speed a cure for PD.
Awareness, I believe, is key to supporting those living with PD and encouraging pharmaceutical companies to work even harder to find a cure.
Firstly, I believe that awareness will help make Parkinson’s a ‘fashionable’ condition.
Let me clarify what I mean by ‘fashionable’. I don’t mean ‘fashionable’ like massive eighties shoulder pads. That is, shoulder pads were at the height of fashion for a few years, and then they disappeared from the fashion scene. Two decades later they were back en vogue.
I would like PD to be only briefly ‘fashionable’ until a cure is found. It will then be eradicated from the face of the earth never to return (which, to be honest, I think should have happened to massive shoulder pads).
I want it to be ‘fashionable’ now, so that :
- People want to fundraise and donate towards research for a cure.
- Pharmaceutical companies will plough all their money and expertise into PD, as they want the kudos of finding a cure for the ‘fashionable’ condition.
- People will have more understanding of PD to help their friend/neighbour who lives with PD.
Once a cure is found :
- I can stop writing my blog (phew).
- PD related organisations will have farewell closing down parties (and all employees will immediately get really good new jobs).
- Lionel and Lavinia (see blog 14) will have job security for life.
- The thousands living with PD, can get on with their lives.
A scenario :
Imagine you move into a new street and pop into a neighbour’s house to borrow a cup of sugar. You notice the house is in disrepair and needs decorating.
Once home, you sprinkle the sugar on your Cornflakes (as you have run out of Frosties), and you have several options :
- You don’t give any more thought to the neighbour and their home’s disrepair.
- You pop back to your neighbour a few days later with some paint samples and help them choose colours over a cup of tea.
- You turn up at their house with a roller and paint a few days later and roll up your sleeves to do their decorating.
Hopefully after reading my blog you will not just ‘notice the disrepair next door, then immediately forget about it’.
Hopefully you will become aware of friends/neighbours living with PD. And offer much needed support and empathy. This obviously applies to the population of the whole wide world. (Although please call first so that I can organise extra crockery).
Unless you are a neuroscientist, I don’t mean for you to work on a cure. Or, wait a minute, maybe I do. After all PD has been a named ‘condition’ for 200 years and still no cure. Perhaps it could be found by an ordinary individual. For example, Derek, a Palaeontologist from Frimley, may be the one to find a cure when inadvertently searching for fossils on the coast of the Hebrides.
I have lots more to write about; interesting situations, positive spins on difficult things, top tips, and may be more (very odd) odes.
So, thank you for reading my blog. Please subscribe if you like what you read, by filling in the details on the front page. You will then get an email when a new blog is posted. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Please forward my blog, and share and like on Facebook to raise awareness, make PD ‘fashionable’, and ultimately find a cure.
