EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — An El Paso woman with young-onset Parkinson’s disease is advocating for El Pasoans to vote ‘Yes’ for Proposition 14 on November’s ballot.
Proposition 14 is one of 17 proposed amendments that are being voted on to add to the Texas Constitution. The amendment would establish the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and allocate $3 billion from the state’s general fund for research into dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related diseases.
Texas voters to decide on 17 amendments starting Monday
“In the grand scheme of things, with all of the millions of lives that are touched by dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, it’s really not that much. I believe it will make a real difference. It’s going to lead to breakthroughs because research and breakthroughs for one brain disease often lead to advances in others,” said Esther Labib-Kiyarash, an ambassador and research advocate for the Parkinson’s Foundation, and an El Paso resident.
As described by the Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time, for which there is no cure.
“I was really shocked when I got diagnosed with Parkinson’s to find out that there is no real treatment and there’s definitely not a cure,” Labib-Kiyarash said. “The medication we take just treats the symptoms. It doesn’t slow the progression at all. I got really upset and angry, and I thought to myself, ‘I want to put my energy into raising awareness about that and hopefully, raising involvement with research and funding, to get us to that place.’”…