Life-Stories and Updates on Parkinson’s Science

“E.E Cummings wrote, "To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight- and never stop fighting.” Brené Brown Teaching, and more teaching: I spent most of June and July getting ready …

10 Life Lessons With Parkinson’s Disease

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde  “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt Life lessons.  Life is a series of lessons we gather …

The Song of the Journey Ahead is About Living Authentically in the Presence of Parkinson’s

“Choosing one path means abandoning others – if you try to follow every possible path you will end up following none.” Paulo Coelho "An awareness of one's mortality can lead you to wake up and live an authentic, meaningful life." Bernie Siegel A beginning: ~7 people/hour are diagnosed with Parkinson's in the USA; resulting in …

City Maps: Anticipated Life Span Compared by Zip Codes

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” Albert Einstein “Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can.” Nicholas Sparks And Now for Something Completely Different (Monty Python's Flying Circus): City Maps is a …

Purple Haze of Parkinson’s: How Dopamine Works

"Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”  Paulo Coelho Précis: To briefly describe the biochemistry of dopamine and dopamine receptors, dopamine physiology, and therapeutic strategies for replacing dopamine in Parkinson's.  But first, some "Purple Haze" by the Jimi …

The Generosity of Donating Your Body to Medical Science

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”  Dr. Seuss “May you live every day of your life.”  Jonathan Swift Pros and cons to donating your body to medical science: Likely you've heard about it, maybe you've even thought about it, donating your body to medical science?  It is a generous and altruistic decision …

Life Happens: Believe, Accept, and Understand

“Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.” Paulo Coelho "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained." …

Anti-malaria Drugs Target Nurr1 For Possible Parkinson’s Therapeutics

“When prescribing one of the drugs I take, my doctor warned me of a common side effect: exaggerated, intensely vivid dreams. To be honest, I've never really noticed the difference. I've always dreamt big.” Michael J. Fox Parkinson's description: About 60,000 new Parkinson's cases will be diagnosed this year in the USA; joining the 1 …

Air Force Core Values And A Life Lived

“Integrity has no need of rules.” Albert Camus “You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.”  C.G. Jung “Do ordinary things extraordinarily well.” Gregg Harris USAF (United States Air Force) Core Values and Growing Up: "Integrity, service and excellence." These three words represent the core values of the USAF, which reminds me …

Overview of Neurodegenerative Disorders

"The question is not how to survive, but how to thrive with passion, compassion, humor and style." Maya Angelou "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." C.S. Lewis   Précis: The goal is to present a brief synopsis of some of the neurodegenerative disorders, that is the easy part.  The hard part is …