People With Parkinson's Tell Their Stories

Each year hundreds of people in Ireland are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and very often the impact on their lives is huge. Each individual has their own coping mechanisms and over the coming months we will regularly update a number of different people's stories on these pages. As you will see the disease progression is vastly different and the ways in which it impacts on their lives is as different as the people themselves.

The first few people we have asked to write these pages are Margaret Mullarney, David Walsh, Geraldine McGeever, Ann Keilthy, Jerry Hurley, John Carey and Martina Sinnott. David, Margaret and Ann all live in Dublin and have differing views on life but they have an excellent attitude to Parkinson's and how to deal with it.

Margaret, pictured on the left with Michael Carruth at our awareness week launch in April, recently completed the Dublin City Marathon in October and the Glasgow Marathon in September. Margaret is also travelling to Branches throughout Ireland to meet people with Parkinson's and their families and she addresses these meetings to pass on her inspirational message. She also has a very successful blog that has featured in the top forty blogs for Parkinson's Awareness Week 2010. MORE HERE >>>

David Walsh is in his mid forties and extremely fit. He had noticed the symtoms of Parkinson's creeping up on him from his late thirties but was not diagnsed for over two years. He is an amazing man who deals with everything life has thrown at him with natural good humour and determination. He has just come back from a solo cycle ride across America to raise funds for the association and its work, and having survived all that the elements threw at him there, his bike was stolen in Dublin!

Read more about him on his web page. MORE HERE >>>

Geraldine McGeever is a mother of two grown up boys and she tells her story from diagnosis to the current day and her strong advice to talk about the disease and its effects on you. Gerladine hails from Donegal and she expalins how she had to leave work due to her symptoms and how she gained the courage to re-enter the workforce following successful completion of numerous computer courses.

Read more about Geraldine on her web page. MORE HERE >>>

Ann Keilthy is a member of the Parkinson's Association's Board of Directors and she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease fifteen years ago aged 44. Ann opted to have Deep Brain Stimuation (DBS) following her struggle with medication. Ann was one of the organising committee that brought the first DBS conference to Dublin in October this year. Ann tell us about her research and conclusions and her ultimate decision to take the DBS route.

Read More about Ann on her web page. MORE HERE >>>

Jerry Hurley had retired early, on health grounds, in 1999 with plans to spend more time in stress-reducing pursuits like hill-walking but had to revise the plans to accommodate more surgery and more hospital treatment. He was able to do some voluntary work which he thoroughly enjoyed. Then in 2007 he got some not too unexpected news.

Read more about Jerry on his web page. MORE HERE >>>

John Carey is a Tipperary man and he was diagnosed ten years ago at the age of 46 which he says himself 'it was pretty young'. He had been unwell for most of that year and he tells us, 'I suppose it was a relief to know what was wrong. I would have preferred to have got a better diagnosis, but you have to play with the cards you are dealt with, the best you can'.

Read more about John on his web page. MORE HERE >>>

Martina Sinnott is a mother of four children who were all teenagers when she received the devastating news that she had Parkinson's disease. She is not one to lie under a problem and her 'can do' approach to her condition leads her to tell us that, "Life is short and you only get one chance at it so you have to make the most of it".

We agree, and you can view her wisdom and advice on her page. MORE HERE >>>

Check back regularly to see what they are up to and how they use various techniques to deal with the day-to-day aspects of Parkison’s. 

Follow Us