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To Keith Arnold: This is opinion of a former Canadian immigration officer I asked about your situation: " Re the friend from S. Africa: applicants are refused on medical grounds if the malady is a threat to public health OR likely to put a strain on health services or allocations. Examples are severe handicap requiring institutionalization or terminal diseases like cancer that are agressively treated with hospitalization, machines, surgery, etc. I do not remember ever seeing a refusal on the basis of Parkinson's but that should not be construed as a guarantee--I may have forgotten things like that. The High Com will be guarded because it is improper and illegal for anyone but a Canadian Medical Officer to have a medical opinion of an applicant and that of course only after seeing the assessment of the examining physician, labs etc. And, there is one further aspect the immigration officer will have to consider, particularly in view of the woman's young age: is the applicant (or dependent spouse) likely to be self-supporting in Canada. People with diabetes, profound deafness, for example, passed because they are no bar to working. The whole family has to be healthy and up to criminal & security standards for the main applicant to pass. An immigration interview is what is now called A Life Event and is unsettling at the best of times. I hope everything happens for the best with these folks." Good luck.