Lori DePorter, who lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Mike, was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease at age 45. She shares how community work, family involvement, and her own coping tools remind her that Parkinson’s doesn’t need to dominate her life.
Transcript
The community is a big coping mechanism for me. The support groups and being involved within the community make a huge difference.
I write and do some things for PD Alliance, and I’m an ambassador for them as well as for the upcoming World Parkinson’s Congress.
Being active in the community has been life-saving for me. I’m glad my family supports it, and they’ve become involved in the community too.
I also use cognitive behavioral therapy a lot, and I meditate because I have anxiety. That’s a huge symptom that not everybody sees. Parkinson’s tends to be an invisible diagnosis and an invisible illness, as are many chronic illnesses.
But it’s there, and I don’t fight it anymore. It is what it is, and I move on.
