April is the gateway month to May flowers and summer vacation. For the Parkinson’s Foundation, April is more important than its showers; it is Parkinson’s awareness month.
Every year 60,000 more people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a neurological disorder that progressively deteriorates the body. As an idiosyncratic disorder, the disease affects everyone with it differently.
The most visible signs of Parkinson’s are hand tremors and difficulty walking. People with Parkinson’s also have internal battles with their pain, anxiety and depression.
Christina Korines used to teach middle school Spanish before being diagnosed with young onset PD in 2017. Korines believes talking about the disease is key to combating it.
“I just think it’s really important for people to bring awareness to the disease, especially for someone at 33 years old like me when I was diagnosed,” Korines said. “I have a long life to live with this disease and the more we talk about it, the more we can learn about it, and the more we can, God willing, one day have a cure.”
Korines controls her Parkinson’s symptoms through medication, healthy eating and boxing.
“I box as many times as I can during a week,” Korines said. “That’s really the one thing that gets my body up and moving. It gets the brain and the body connecting the way I’d hoped that it would without having to be so intense with my workouts.”
With no cure for the disease currently, Parkinson’s awareness month hopes to serve as a reminder every year of the disorder affecting over one million Americans. One day they hope to be able to prevent, stop and revert the effects of Parkinson’s.
More information on the disease is available at the Parkinson’s Foundation website www.parkinson.org and at their helpline: 1-800-473-4636.