Back to the Future
Yesterday I sat at a table at a health fair promoting the Parkinson’s Association, and supporting and educating the community about Parkinson’s. Well, it was actually a winter carnival with a small group of organizations who were there as health resources. Santa was there. The Grinch was there. A petting zoo was there. Hundreds of kids were there. Who wasn’t there? People who wanted to talk about Parkinson’s. That’s who.
One woman who approached the table thought that the What’s Shaking Man logo represented earthquake preparedness. We both got a laugh out of that. You know what was not funny? How old I felt around all those young people. Nothing brought this home more than two pre-teenage boys who came and talked with me. The first one skateboarded over to the table, something I could not do even long before I had Parkinson’s. I asked him if he knew what Parkinson’s was, and he did! He asked a couple of questions, thoughtfully reflected on my responses, and said he knew Michael J. Fox from “that old movie, ‘Back to the Future.’” Key word: “old”. He skated off with a WSM sticker on the skateboard. Ironically, somewhere I will never be.
The second young man cautiously approached the table with sleepy eyes. Lured in by what, I do not know. “What’s all this?” he asked waving his hand over the table. He had never heard of Parkinson’s so I gave him my best 8th grade boy (equivalent of my 3rd grade girl) explanation. After telling him about the motor symptoms, he asked, “Do you got it?” After I said “yes”, he asked, “How come you don’t shake?” I went on to explain about medication, other symptoms and, when I got to brain surgery, his eyes were wide awake and I think he achieved the 5th grade girl level of processing. Next he asked, “Why don’t they have a cure?” I told him there has been lots effort but no cure yet. And this is where I made my mistake… “Do you know who Michael J. Fox is?” His eyes glazed over and went sleepy again, “Nah.” I did not know what to say after that, and he started to walk away. I yelled toward him, “Brain surgery!” But he was gone…back to the future.