When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast: Finding hope in Parkinson’s

In this episode of the When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast, Niki Reitmayer and I talk about hope as a common denominator to science and spirituality. We explore the concept of hope, where to find hope, how to keep it and the role it plays in living our best lives despite the Parkinson’s diagnosis.

I’m a fairly hopeful guy. Sure, I have dark moments as we all do but, hope wins out more often than not.

You might be wondering how I can have hope or be hopeful while dealing with an incurable, progressive brain disease like Parkinson’s. It’s a fair question. I don’t know that I have the answers, but in this episode, I go about searching for a better understanding of the role that hope plays in the Parkinson’s community.

What I discover is that hope is the one driving force that binds us all together. No matter if you are a person with Parkinson’s, a caregiver, a nurse, neurologist, physiotherapist, counsellor, general practitioner or a support group leader, we are all dealing in hope.

Dr. Matt Farrer is a professor of medical genetics and molecular neuroscience at Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. He is a genetic researcher who hopes his work will eradicate Parkinson’s.

Last year, he mapped my genome and is set to reveal the results of those tests in this episode of the podcast. I also talk to Wendy Edey, a facilitator of hope at “Hope Studies Central” at the University of Alberta, who has studied the impacts of hope as it relates to Parkinson’s disease. “When you have hope you have the capacity to think about the future and be okay,” she says.

Someone who embodies the power of hope in my eyes is the Reverend Dixie Black. The deacon of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver has been living with a Parkinson’s diagnosis since 2013. “Hope means to me, trust — trust that however it goes, I’m not alone and I’ll be taken care of.”

Follow me, Larry Gifford 

Twitter: @ParkinsonsPod

Facebook: Facebook.com/ParkinsonsPod

Instagram: @parkinsonspod

Follow Co-host and Producer Niki Reitmeyer

Twitter: @Niki_Reitmayer

Thank you to Dr Matt Farrer and the staff at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health https://www.centreforbrainhealth.ca/. Follow the Centre for Brain Health on Twitter at @DMCBrainHealth. 

Wendy Edey, Facilitor of Hope at “Hope Studies Central” https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/hope-studies/home

Reverend Dixie Black, Deacon of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver. Read and listen to her sermons here.

And special thanks to my wife Rebecca Gifford.

If you have a comment or question about the podcast, you can email us: parkinsonspod@curiouscast.ca

Follow me, Larry Gifford 

Twitter: @ParkinsonsPod

Facebook: Facebook.com/ParkinsonsPod

Instagram: @parkinsonspod

Follow Co-host and Producer Niki Reitmeyer

Twitter: @Niki_Reitmayer

Special thanks to Bruce Gifford, Dan Gifford, Tracy Cherry, Marty Gifford, and Rebecca Gifford

For more info on our partner, Parkinson Canada, head to http://www.parkinson.ca/

Here is a link to an article about Young Onset Parkinson’s which also discusses employment

The toll-free hotline 1-800-565-3000

Or follow them on Twitter:

Parkinson Canada            @ParkinsonCanada

Parkinson Society BC      @ParkinsonsBC

When Life Gives You Parkinson’s was selected as one of Apple’s best podcasts of 2018. 

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