My Daddy has Parkinson’s. It is slowly taking away everything. His eyesight is failing. His walking has become very difficult…he uses a walker always, and will probably need to use a wheelchair in the near future. He has difficulty completing basic tasks of daily living. In the evenings even his thinking fails him, and he needs guidance to find his bedroom. Parkinson’s is a TOUGH road to walk.
One of Daddy’s strongest desires right now is to tell his story. He’s been asking to do that for months. Finally, this Spring while at the beach with family, he and I took some time to brainstorm a story for children about Parkinson’s. Since then we’ve discussed the ideas with his friend at Gentog that also has PD. I worked on the rhymes to make this story child-friendly (and fun to read for the grown-ups…rhyming books are my personal favorites). I found photos from the last 3 years that show Daddy’s life and relationship with his great-grandsons. The result is a new book, “Grandpa, What is Parkinson’s?”
I’m proud of the story we’ve told. I think it will help young children to understand a little better what is going on with a grandparent that has Parkinson’s disease. I learned a little bit while writing it, and I hope even parents reading the book might understand PD a little better as well. And, most of all, I hope that having this book published will satisfy that need to be heard for my daddy.