Peru – Handstand for Parkinson's

I have a dream ….for Club Dopamine!

A research survey found a significant number of Latin American (Llibre Guerra et al; 2022) people had Parkinson’s Disease symptoms but had NEVER been diagnosed and not had medical or neurological attention.

The study didn’t ask why but we can imagine some don’t know what Parkinson’s is and others or those same people hide because of stigma and discrimination. They become isolated which worsens their disability and increases immobility.

Parkinson’s disease has no CURE.

Raising awareness about Parkinson’s is crucial to prevent late diagnosis and start early physiotherapy/exercise.

We must explain that PD is not a curse, your fault or something to be ashamed of.

We are taking action to prevent discrimination and isolation and encourage holistic treatment including exercise which can help symptoms considerably.

We need help!

I have a small project I’d like to find funding for that aims to empower people with Parkinson’s (PWP) to thrive:

– to be understood,

– to stop isolation,

– and to get treatment!

Over the last few years advocates have emerged who are willing to share their stories about living with Parkinson’s in Peru. The daily struggles, the small triumphs and the ongoing battle inspire us to continue. My story has inspired people to exercise to improve their Parkinson’s symptoms and Dorys’ story about the family’s sacrifice has had immense international feedback.

I just published Ray’s story , and it is turning heads and breaking stigma. In 3 weeks it has had 1000 views and lovely comments. All this without marketing, imagine what we could do if we had a marketing budget.

Stories connect us. Stories about family. The love seeps into our hearts: strained voices, biting of lips, and love in a look. We have these treasures(interviews) in our hands as I filmed them with a professional in 2021 but they need to be edited and marketed for maximum exposure.

I can’t take this on. I’d like to see it created into a documentary for a film festival. It will give an editor a wonderful creative opportunity. They’re in Spanish but modern technology means this isn’t a barrier. I don’t know how it is going to get made but I have faith it will be made and will be a powerful approach to breaking down stigma but not in an educational boring way…

Watch the first story which happens to be in English and catch a bit of the essence of this project.

I have a dream….but I have had many dreams and I know I often get above and beyond what I expect. It is happening in my life right now …but that’s another story.

I dream not for myself but for those who message me in pain in the middle of the night, Sara has no neurologist, no exercise coach, she can’t sleep because of the pain.

For Sara and many more… For Club Dopamine! May this project get the funding or passionate philanthropist it needs.

Llibre-Guerra JJ, Prina M, Sosa AL, Acosta D, Jimenez-Velazquez IZ, Guerra M, et al. Prevalence of parkinsonism and Parkinson disease in urban and rural populations from Latin America: A community based study. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. 2022 Mar;7:100136.

Ray’s story:

Opportunities and Biostatistics

In June I entered a program called New Wave at the University of New South Wales focused on entrepreneurship (for graduates and students). I learnt much and also had the opportunity to pitch the Alianza for funding. It was great opportunity to practice public speaking and although the video has not been made public, is the link, exclusively for my blog followers. I’d like to do a TED talk one day so I still have much to learn but practice is crucial step towards improvement.

4+ minute speech plus question time – (it goes on to other speeches)

I’m getting more opportunities to speak at different events and have 6 workshops/small talks booked over the next 3 months. I have been invited to give a workshop in the PDM Alliance conference in October in DC (USA) and I will also make a quick trip to Peru at the same time.

But for now I have about 3 weeks left in biostatistics and a big assignment to conquer before I can say I finished my masters subjects and can focus on my research and preparing for my talks and trip.

Rise21 Finalist – Alianza Iberoamericana de Parkinson

Alianza Iberoamericana de Parkinson is an exciting initiative that needs support! I’m looking to generate revenue to get this life-impacting initiative off the ground. My project has been short-listed in RISE21 a competition for social enterprises that help reach the UN development goals.

Without timely treatment, Parkinson’s Disease disables many. The Alliance of Parkinson’s aims to increase the quantity, quality and accessibility of resources and training available to health professionals and patients and their families, to improve services and the quality of lives of people with Parkinson’s throughout the Spanish speaking world.
See this video for more information. Please contact me by comments if you’d like to know more or can help fund or find funding for this Project:

Please watch the video at this LINK: https://lnkd.in/dMt3Jds

Special thanks to Ludovic Kohn for the drone footage – check out his channel here for other amazing footage. Amazing! More of his videos on his youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCDhE-V0Id4d9YlIiiEQrg

#health #parkinson #rise21 Ignacio Mata

Would you sell your house to save you mother?

https://youtu.be/5vAlkXmsSSk

3 April 2021: This family decided to sell the house they live in, to operate on their mother. What would cause a family to take such a drastic measure? Parkinson’s Disease! After 10 years of Parkinson’s Disease Dorys could not control her body. She trembled violently. Without graphic footage this story brings the reality and ugliness of Parkinson’s Disease and its effect on one family. It is an amazing story of suffering, sacrifice and love.

The month of April is Parkinson’s disease awareness month. Parkinson’s Disease is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder and is one of the Neurological disorders which are the leading causes of disability globally (GBD Parkinson’s Collaborators 2016), Parkinson’s disease, discovered more than 200 years ago, is the fastest growing neurological disease in the world. There is still no cure. We urgently need a cure for this disease and better treatment for people like Dorys.

This story aims to demonstrate the reality of the disease for people who live in lower and middle income countries and the west too in some cases. The story is from Peru and is made by Christine Jeyachandran, amatuer youtuber. Christine, an Australian, was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s disease diagnosis at the age of 37 and lives in Peru. The deficit of services for Peruvians breaks her heart. She writes “Well, within minutes I was blown away by the family’s story. Despite not having my camera with me, I returned early from the beach to film the full story”

Christine started an association to help educate her community about Parkinson’s disease but she has contact with people all around Peru with the disease.

Please don’t let Dorys story be invisible. Her life and the life of her family matter and we need to let others know just how this. We need to END PARKINSON’S!

Christine Jeyachandran – Parkinson’s World Congress Ambassador 2022 & Founder of Activate Liga Contra el Parkinson (Peru)

Please use these hashtags on social media:

#SellHouseSaveMother, #ParkinsonsDisease, #ParkinsonPeru, #NoMoreSuffering

The video is also available on youtube fully in Spanish.

https://youtu.be/jAJjRFxLioI

Serendipitous meeting

Esta historia esta en español en https://activateparkinson.com/

I was on vacation, relaxing when I met a friendly guy in the same hotel, let’s call him Kevin. He is traveling alone, in his 50’s and my 6th sense told me there was a reason why I should chat with him. But he worked in real estate, no connection there!

But when I told him about my PD association he was full of advice as he had worked in pharmaceuticals previously. He said I should get a social media plan for my organisation. Of course I know that social media is important to get the message out so I nodded politely when he kept pushing this point.

But the next day he went from a different angle, the more members you have the more you can influence. I have about 100 members and maybe contact with 200 nationwide.. not enough to get this on the national agenda, not even enough for the pharmaceutical companies to take me seriously he says. He said if you can get 5000 people then you have power.

The penny dropped.

So we need to use paid advertising in social media to get it beyond PD circles. It turns out Kevin had a deceased parent with Parkinson’s and it was clear he’d never heard of such support groups. Point made.

Activate (my NGO) needs to have a presence that cannot be ignored, so that Parkinson’s treatment and education are actually on the agenda. And so that pharmaceutical companies will come to the party with conference funding, educational resources and doctors etc. Let’s be honest – we’ll always need them, but they need us too and if we group together, just maybe we can influence them for the better.

I asked Kevin to help me draft a letter to send to the pharmaceutical companies which he kindly did but now I’ve got to step back and set up my systems to meet the swell of responses that will come in from my media campaign (create that too) and automated response forms and information sheets etc. Yes, this could take months but April is Parkinson’s awareness month so that could give me a good target.

It is funny how even on vacation the coincidental meetings with people can influence work.

Tough year for PD Community In Peru

Español Abajo: Año difícil para la comunidad de EP en Perú

It has been a tough year in Peru for people with Parkinson’s, I guess everywhere really. I have been so busy doing things by distance that I haven’t had time to write the really deep blog posts that are mulling around in my head. I’ve even started some but they need more work.

So when Parkinson’s life Magazine asked me to reflect on the year and how the community was doing and our resolutions for the new year I got straight onto Whatapp. I asked my community what it was like for them and some commented, some filled in a mini survey and and some I talk to.

It also gave me a chance to think about the aims I have for next year and re-reading them again today made me think I better do x,y and Z to get these achieved.

So here’s the article with my comments along with those from others around the world.

https://parkinsonslife.eu/new-years-resolutions-parkinsons-community/

They didn’t use the photo I sent in of representatives of my community, Susan (physiotherapist and Ramiro – PWP) so here it is. They’ve been a great encouragement to me this year so thank you Ramiro and Susan.

Happy New Year everyone and what is your new years resolution?

Español
Año difícil para la comunidad de EP en Perú

Ha sido un año difícil en Perú para las personas con Parkinson, supongo que en todas partes. He estado tan ocupado haciendo cosas a distancia que no he tenido tiempo de escribir los blogs realmente profundos que están dando vueltas en mi cabeza, algunos incluso están empezados pero necesitan trabajar.

Entonces, cuando la revista Life de Parkinson me pidió que reflexionara sobre el año y cómo le estaba yendo a la comunidad y nuestras resoluciones para el nuevo año me hice pensar. Fui directamente a whatapp y le pregunté a mi comunidad cómo era para ellos, algunos comentaron, otros completaron una mini encuesta y algunos hablábamos, así que he escuchado cómo les está yendo.

También me dio la oportunidad de pensar en los objetivos que tengo para el próximo año y volver a leerlos hoy me hizo pensar que sería mejor hacer x, y y Z para conseguirlos.

Así que hoy salió la edición en la que aparecen mis comentarios junto con otros de otros lados del mundo.

https://parkinsonslife.eu/new-years-resolutions-parkinsons-community/

Tristemente no usaron la foto que envié con  los representantes de mi comunidad conmigo, Susan, fisioterapeuta y Ramiro - persona con Parkinson), así que aquí está. Hicieron un gran esfuerzo para venir y tomarse una foto y han sido un gran animadores para mí este año, así que gracias Ramiro y Susan.

Feliz año nuevo a todos y ¿cuál es su resolución de año nuevo?

Featured in Podcast: When Life Gives you Parkinson’s

Thanks to Larry Gifford for interviewing me on his popular podcast When Life Gives you Parkinson’s. Follow the link and please share it.

https://omny.fm/shows/when-life-gives-you/even-patients-can-push-things-along?t=0s

“In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s, host Larry Gifford introduces you to Parkinson’s advocate Christine Jeyachandran. Christine is an Australian living in Peru with her family. They met in Japan at the World Parkinson Congress where she was a finalist in the video competition. Her video tracked her journey to learn gymnastics with PD and ultimately achieve a handstand. Now Christine brings hope, urgency and education to her Parkinson’s advocacy through her website and videos at www.handstandforparkinsons.com “

Please take the time to listen. Several have said they appreciated it.

Two events in 1 week: Dos Eventos en Espanol

Esta vez he colocado el español en primer lugar debido a los eventos, pero solo desplácese hacia abajo para ver la versión en inglés de este blog.

This time I have placed Spanish first because the events but just scroll down for the English version of this blog.

Estoy involucrada en dos eventos esta semana. El primero es un iniciativa mía y ayudé a organizarlo. He visto la necesidad, que los fisioterapeutas reciban más formación sobre el Parkinson, así que me puse en contacto con LSVT, una organización de fisioterapia y terapia de la voz con sede en los EE. UU. Mi papel ha sido principalmente la traducción entre los locales y Angela de LSVT. Aprendo mucho sobre la realización de eventos en Perú y el trabajo transcultural.

Estoy emocionada para el evento el viernes. Angela esta planeando mostrar uno de mis videos para brindarles a los asistentes una visión de cómo el ejercicio puede beneficiar a alguien con Parkinson. Incluso en Occidente, los fisioterapeutas les gustan mis videos por las mismas razones. Este evento está más enfocado en profesionales y la esperanza es hacer más formación y acreditación el próximo año.

Inscribirse:

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4497092028468958224

El segundo evento es otro evento en español, para promover el Congreso Mundial de Parkinson, que se celebrará en Barcelona en 2022. El evento está organizado por Claudia Martinez del Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Barrow Neurological Institute.

En mi rol de Embajadora, se supone que debo ir a conferencias y visitar asociaciones para promover el evento, pero con COVID, nos vemos obligados a realizar eventos en línea. Todavía espero promocionar en persona el próximo año, pero hasta que las cosas se calmen, esto y los mensajes en línea son la mejor opción.

Inscribirse aquí:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PuA4c5BRQS2CGf01hp1b0Q

Si tiene eventos en los que podría hablar, comuníquese con nosotros y ven el lunes a este evento. Es para profesionales y personas con Parkinson.

ENGLISH – TWO EVENTS THIS WEEK

I’m involved in two events this week. The first I initiated and helped organise. I have seen a need here for physiotherapists get more training in Parkinson’s so I made contact with LSVT, a US Based physiotherapy and voice therapy organisation and after months of planning the event is on the 20th of November. My role has mainly been translating between the locals and Angela from LSVT. I learnt much about running events in Peru and working cross culturally.

I can’t wait for the event on Friday. Angela is planning to show one of my videos to give the attendees a vision for how exercise can benefit someone with Parkinson’s. Even in the west, physiotherapists like my videos for the same reasons. This event is more focused on professionals and the hope is to do further training and accreditation next year.

The second event is another Spanish event to promote the World Parkinson’s Congress, which is in Barcelona in 2022. The event is organised by Claudia Martinez of the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Barrow Neurological Institute.

In my role as Ambassador, I’m supposed to go to conferences and visit associations to promote the event but with COVID we are forced to do online events. I still hope to promote in person next year but until things calm down, this and messages online are the best option.

If you have events that I could speak at please get in touch and come along on Monday to this event. It is for professionals and people with Parkinson’s.

Newsletters and their importance – Noticias en Español.

Welcome to my blog those who are new. It is nice to have you journeying with me. I hope you enjoy or learn something here.

This is a newsletter I wrote recently in Spanish. I won’t translate it all but basically I am promoting everything that is happening in Actívate, the Parkinson’s group I created. Well, not much has happened because of Lockdown but nonetheless little things should be celebrated.

I studied community development and one thing you learn is you need to share the successes and promote your group in an ongoing way. It is nice for the participants to get mentioned and of course upcoming events and opportunities for their involvement in research are advertised.

I have included also for the Spanish speakers. If you have questions I can answer them and gradually I will tell these stories too in English.

Joy – A Poem

The raw grief of diagnosis slowly has ebbed away,
but living on, it visits from time to time, but never to stay.
But strangely there is joy that’s hard to explain.
not joy in trouble walking, not joy in aches and pains,
not joy in insomnia, I try not to complain
But there is joy in working hard despite my fears
There is joy in achieving goals though it takes years
There is joy in comforting others and in empathy
There is joy in sense of purpose and pure clarity
There is joy in fighting for others who don’t know how.
There is joy in others helping, I’m not alone now
Today whatever raw emotions catch me unaware,
I know the best is joy and I willingly will share