Experimental treatment for Parkinson’s at UK showing early promise

Parkinson’s disease was given a very public face when actor Michael J. Fox was first diagnosed with it nearly 30 years ago. It’s a debilitating disease that affects about one million people in this country. There’s no could eventually reverse the effects the disease has on the body.

In music, timing is everything. Bill Crawford, you could say, is the beat that keeps his congregation tapping their toes on Sunday mornings.

“It’s probably, I think the best job in the world because you spend time helping others do something they really love,” said Crawford.

As longtime music pastor at Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Crawford has kept the beat, until one day it wasn’t there.

“I couldn’t match the beat, I couldn’t find the beat and I couldn’t feel it,” he said.

In 2004, at the age of 44, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a progressive disorder that affects part of the brain regulating movement.

“It started a long time ago with my finger on my right hand, it started twitching and I couldn’t stop it.”

Read more at WKYT.com

Patient turned advocate Ann Hanley inspires fundraiser for Parkinson’s research

Last week, more than 300 people gathered to honor a special person and her work.

That person is Ann Hanley. Her work: the Ann Hanley Parkinson’s Research Fund, which supports research at the University of Kentucky.

Hanley was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 49. Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease that damages and eventually destroys neurons in the brain, causing muscle rigidity and tremors, difficulty moving, unstable posture and ultimately death. It is estimated about 10 million people worldwide have the disease, which has no cure.

“I pretty much lived the gamut of everything that you could possibly expect when you hear a diagnosis like this one. And it wasn’t easy,” Hanley said.

But instead of letting fear get her down, she’s focusing her energy on lifting other Parkinson’s patients up.

Read more at Kyforward.com