Day One

Most people who have PD remember the way they felt when they got the diagnosis. I’ve asked that question of at least a hundred people with PD and the answers vary, but often include degrees of shock, disbelief and rage. It can sound like a death sentence.

This is why Day One is such an important idea in the Parkinson’s community. We want people who get this news to be surrounded, immediately, with those who have lived and navigated their lives with PD effectively. We want them to know there is hope, that PD is different for everyone and that your willingness and commitment to fight back can drive dramatic effects in how your symptoms manifest.

The understandable response is to isolate - fear, anger and anguish can drive people inward. This is also a dangerous place for PD because, left to its own devices, it can ravish the body. The good news is, the opposite is equally true.

Dr. Jay Albert’s landmark study on the effect of forced exercise on PD should be tattoo’d to every person affected by PD’s body. It’s not enough to know the results - you have to work to achieve them in you, and you have to do it regularly.

There is no magic pill (a.k.a. cure).

That news, too, can send people spiraling. Again, the good news is, there are a number of ways to treat PD effectively to the point where many report they forget they have it. Again, that’s not to say it goes away - no known cases so far. But many PWP’s ability to manage their symptoms has increased dramatically.

Here at PPLV, we’ll be growing a Day One program to help get the newly diagnosed everything they need - information on resources, directions to exercise and support activity groups, and, most of all, a community. We are better together. And while we’re not happy you have PD, we’re happy to have you with us.

— written by Robert Cochrane