Today, something occurred in my class that puts a pitter patter in my heart. This kind of story is what inspires me to keep working hard for myself and my PD friends. A 60 year old gentleman who has had Parkinson's Disease for 18 years has been taking Beat PD classes for exactly one year. He can't drive and depends on his sister and her husband to drive him everywhere. He lives with them. He has this great chuckle when I tell him to "look up" when he walks. When he came to us last January, one of his biggest issues is that when he falls, he can't get up. A few months ago, I had a one on one lesson with him and we practiced. He could NOT get up. His strength and flexibility would not allow him to move from laying on the floor helpless. I ended up pulling him up with all my might after 20 minutes of trying. This is a life skill that he needs to be able to do. I gave him 4lb dumb bells to take home and showed him some exercises to do. He chuckled when I said to do 10 reps of these exercises EVERYDAY. Well, guess what? Today it paid off. After a huge sigh when I said get on the floor to him today, he got on the floor, took a few hoists of the leg to turn over, pushed with his arms to get into a kneeling position, and stood up. The smile on his face was one I will never forget. He said he hasn't been able to do that in 15 years. He is fighting the fighting the fight! I hope we all can learn from this story. Strength doesn't come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't.
Beat PD Today!
