Essential PD Communities

I owe Tim Hague Sr. an enormous thank you. The Canadian Parkinson’s advocate/educator/motivator helped me rethink my relationship with the various communities in my life.

Hague was a featured speaker at the Davis Phinney Foundation’s Victory Summit last week in Punta Gorda. He captivated the more than 800 Parkies and friends with perseverance stories about winning the first Great Amazing Race Canada with son Tim Jr.

Their reward was $250,000 cash, plus automobiles and free air travel. The perseverance required to win had everything to do with Tim’s PD-related memory and organizing challenges.

To hear Tim tell his story, go to http://www.timsr.ca/watch-tim-speak/

Tim often referred to the communities in his life: family, his hometown Winnipeg, fellow Parkies, his health care team.

He got me to thinking about the communities in my life: my immediate and extended family; PD SELFers; Rock Steady Boxing compatriots; PD support group members; fellow Florida newspaper editors; the golf group I once belonged to; college friends; high school friends; journalists I worked with at three Carolinas newspapers. The list goes on and on.

Each community commands my attention, requires nourishment and provides me support in large and small ways. I count on them to help fuel my perseverance in pushing back at my Parkinson’s condition.

Davis Phinney Foundation is also about communities and individuals in those communities who serve Parkies. The foundation’s primary mission is to salute people who persevere with their PD and serve their communities. Until Friday, I had not understood how Davis Phinney stands apart from other PD organizations in this way.

I salute the foundation and their speakers, such as Tim, for the large contribution they are making to the lives of those of us with Parkinson’s.

.