Margot Zobel, the Founder and Director of the Parkinson's Unity Walk will share Parkinson's related news and insights on a periodic basis.

April 2005

Eleven years ago I was on a recruiting mission, looking for people to help me start a walk to raise money for Parkinson’s research. Not an ordinary walk, but an event that would bring together all the major organizations that were fighting PD on their own. Some members of my support group volunteered, and at a PAN forum in Washington I met Ken Aidekman, who was to become my friend and co-founder of this Walk.

Over the years we attracted many supporters, and word of the Walk spread far and wide, inside and outside of the U.S. At each Walk I stood on this podium and proudly announced how much we had grown. But today I’ll skip the history and focus instead on the future.

Parkinson’s is an unrelenting disease, and we must wage an unrelenting campaign against it. I’m not telling you anything new. Many of us are veterans of an exhausting double struggle - our daily skirmish with PD itself, and our continuing efforts to raise awareness and funds for research. We’ve suffered disappointments: treatments that didn’t bring the relief we hoped for, and cures that tantalize us but won’t be available for five or ten more years.

Progress never comes fast enough - we are all impatient to see ourselves and our loved ones completely free of Parkinson’s. But if we look at recent scientific advances, we have good reason to be optimistic. We have more medications available to us than ever before, and new operating techniques have led to revolutionary surgeries like deep brain stimulation. And in spite of the obstacles put in our path, we have the incredible promise of stem cells, which will not be kept from us by any misguided protesters..

To sum up, how can we meet the challenges of the future? By doing exactly what we have been doing. Supporting the Unity Walk by forming teams, involving all your friends and relatives, organizing bake sales, etc. By writing letters to the editor. By keeping up the pressure on our legislators.

Individually our voices may be weak, but collectively they are strong enough to ensure a future without Parkinson’s disease. Just remember: Fund the Research, Find the Cure!

Love,
Margot

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