This past February, I lost my father to Parkinson’s disease. As a family physician, I have cared for patients with Parkinson’s. As a daughter, I walked alongside my dad as he faced the daily challenges of this relentless condition. And as a neighbor in Reno, I see how Parkinson’s touches too many families in our community.
An estimated 5,000 people in Northern Nevada live with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Each one is surrounded by family, friends, co-workers, and caregivers whose lives are also deeply affected. Parkinson’s doesn’t always shorten life, but it changes how you live. From the tremor that makes it hard to hold a cup of coffee, to the stiffness that makes walking across a room exhausting, to the fatigue and depression that often accompany it — PD reshapes life in countless ways.
What makes this even more urgent is that Parkinson’s is the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disease in the world. In just the next 10 years, the number of people diagnosed is expected to double. The costs — in medications, healthcare, lost work hours, and caregiver strain — are staggering. Nationally, the combined economic burden of Parkinson’s disease nearly $62 billion. Yet funding for research, training, and support services has not kept pace with this crisis…