Local Man Starts Parkinson's Group ; Support Will Target Young-Onset
Patients
By BILL RADFORD THE GAZETTE
David Walker has felt the isolation, embarrassment and anger.
He was 33 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a progressive
brain disorder that causes tremors and impairs balance and coordination.
It's primarily a disease of the elderly: Most patients are diagnosed at age
60 or older.
About 5 percent of Parkinson's patients, though, are diagnosed before age
40. Actor Michael J. Fox, who has become the public face of young-onset
Parkinson's, was diagnosed at age 30.
Parkinson's is not a terminal disease, but those with youngonset Parkinson's
face a lifetime of medications, of seeing their body increasingly betray
them as their symptoms worsen.
"We start younger, so we have it for a longer time," Walker says.
Walker used to be his own worst enemy. At first he ignored his condition.
Then he overmedicated.
Now he's older -- nearly 44 -- and wiser. And he wants to help others with
young-onset Parkinson's as they go through similar struggles.
The Colorado Springs man is forming a support group for people with
young-onset Parkinson's, which will be a subgroup of the local Jeanne Taylor
Parkinson's Support Group.
"People David's age feel more comfortable without the older folks around,
particularly when they're beginning their exploration of what Parkinson's
is," says Richard Pfarrer, chairman of the Colorado Parkinson Foundation and
president of the Jeanne Taylor support group.
That group is made up primarily of people in their 60s and 70s, he says. At
53, he's one of the younger ones; he was diagnosed at age 48. Ironically, he
attended the support groups for years as a caregiver for his mother-in-law,
who has Parkinson's, before being diagnosed himself.
The tremors caused by Parkinson's are more of a social stigma for younger
people, he says. And with most of their life still ahead of them, they're
likely to be more interested in a cure for the disease than learning how to
cope.
The promise of a cure is tantalizingly close, Pfarrer says, with areas of
study such as gene therapy and stem-cell research holding great promise.
"The cure easily could be five, 10 years around the corner," Pfarrer says.
Walker points to another advance: deep-brain-stimulation therapy. In late
2005, he underwent surgery at Penrose Hospital to implant a device that acts
as a pacemaker of sorts for the brain. Electrical impulses sent to the brain
block the abnormal nerve signals that cause Parkinson's symptoms.
"The benefits of surgery have been way beyond my wildest dreams," Walker
says.
His symptoms have eased but have not been erased, however, and he's still on
medication, though at a lower dose than before. But Walker, who was living
in the assisted-living facility at the Union Printers Home, has improved
enough that he's living on his own and looking for part-time work.
Walker, who has been profiled in The Gazette and on television, also has
made appearances on behalf of Medtronic, the company behind
deep-brain-stimulation therapy.
"Because I've had this notoriety, I wanted to use it for good," he says. And
spearheading the support group also helps him by giving him a sense of
purpose.
"I think a lot of people with disabilities, they lose their job, their
spouse -- they lose some of the main focus of their life."
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or [log in to unmask]
TO LEARN MORE
A new support group for people with youngonset Parkinson's disease and their
caregivers will meet from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the second Saturday of each
month starting Oct. 14 at Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave. For more
information, e-mail David Walker at [log in to unmask] or call
634-0104.
To learn more about Parkinson's disease, go to:
www.parkinson.org, National Parkinson Foundation
www.co-parkinson.org, Colorado Parkinson Foundation and Jeanne Taylor
Parkinson's Support Group
www.yopa.org, Young Onset Parkinson's Association
www.michaeljfox.org, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
(c) 2006 Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.. Provided by ProQuest
Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

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