Parkinson’s Disease Need Not Be Drag -Anthony Thanasayan
- Details
- Created on Thursday, 19 February 2015 07:00
- Published Date
- Written by Anthony Thanasayan
- Category: Columnist
Cheryl Yeong, who hails from Damansara Kim in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, has always been a happy-go-lucky person.
The 61-year-old, whom I had the pleasure
to catch up with last week in order to write this article, made it very
clear to me that despite what had happened to her, she still has a very
positive view of life.
Cheryl has Parkinson's disease.
This is a disease of the nervous system
which causes the muscles to become stiff and the body to shake. The
condition gradually worsens over time.
Though there is currently no cure, it is
highly treatable. There are medications to slow down the negative
effects of Parkinson's and improve the quality of life for people with
the condition.
Cheryl is happily married and has four children.
She had no idea that her body was being
attacked by a sinister disease until she noticed strange happenings in
her normal routine.
One of them was in her walk. Trips to the nearby shops on foot began to take longer and longer each time.
"It used to take only ten minutes to get
to the grocer's, but then it started getting more strenuous and seemed
like forever for me to get there and back," Cheryl explained.
"It was my sister-in-law who suddenly asked me why I was 'walking funny', and this was later echoed by my son," added Cheryl.
By this time, everyone had noticed a
particular drag in Cheryl's left foot. Furthermore, her unsteady walk
made it seem like she was going to lose her balance and fall anytime.
That was in 2005.
Surprisingly, however, no one - including Cheryl - did anything about it - everyone thought that it would go away.
It was after Cheryl's visit to a friend who
had a stroke that made her finally seek medical help. She suspected
that she might be experiencing the early stages of a stroke attack.
Though the doctor in a government
hospital suspected Cheryl had Parkinson's the moment she entered her
clinic, it took several tests and months later before she ended up
seeing a neurologist who then broke the bad news to her.
"But because I hadn't a clue about what
Parkinson's disease was at
that time and didn't know anyone who was
personally suffering from it, I merely treated it the same way I did
when I had a fever.
"I wanted to get over it as fast as I could."
It was the Internet in the end that was a life saver for Cheryl.
Browsing through the search pages gave
her a true and grim picture of what Parkinson's was, what it could and
would do to her - and how to stay on top of the situation.
By then, Cheryl was already on the right
medication to treat Parkinson's, given by the hospital, and her husband
and children were her caregivers.
However, Cheryl pointed out that she
wished her doctors and healthcare workers could have been more proactive
about how to get on with life after Parkinson's.
"I was never told about the existence of
the Malaysian Parkinson's Disease Association (MPDA), for instance,
which is a national support group for people like me and our
caregivers."
Cheryl and her family got to know about
the organisation when the latter held a hot air balloon event at a
football field in PJ, in conjunction with World Parkinson's Day in 2008.
"My hubby took me there, where Persons
with Parkinson's (PwP) got to enjoy free rides up in the sky in a hot
air balloon," recalled Cheryl with a big grin on her face.
"The first patient I saw was in a wheelchair, staring at me with the typical expressionless face that PwP's tend to have.
"Then
it suddenly hit me that I could be like that, ten years down the road.
It was important for me to join the group in order to stay on top of the
disease. And so I signed up there and then - and have no regrets today
for doing so."
Cheryl says that meeting others with
Parkinson's disease and finding out about their own stories of how they
are coping with the disease has helped her husband and her tremendously
in dealing with their battle with Parkinson's.
The volunteers who help at the centre
are also an inspiration, some of whom have family members with
Parkinson's who are still living or who have passed on.
"Whether it's struggling with my body
which doesn't listen to me to do what I tell it to, or accidentally
falling down like timber in the forest, I'm learning to do things at a
slower pace.
"I'm out every morning in the park near
my house to practise physical exercises with other residents of my
community without Parkinson's.
"I am also actively working at the MPDA.
One of my responsibilities is visiting patients in nursing homes who
have the condition."
Cheryl, her husband and her four children would like to wish all readers of Rakyat Times who are celebrating Chinese New Year a most prosperous and Happy New Year!
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