By Tamara Botting
Aug. 14, 2016
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Marguerite Kelly and Larry Smith organized a concert and pig roast to benefit Parkinson’s Canada. Originally, the event had been planned to support Smith’s brother and Kelly’s friend, Frederick Smith. When Frederick passed away on July 3, the pair decided to proceed, and make the event a memorial tribute instead.
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While Larry Smith had heard of Parkinson’s disease before, it wasn’t until his brother, Frederick, was diagnosed that he understood the impact it had on a person’s life.
“I didn’t really know anything about it. After, I realized how bad a disease it is,” Larry said.
Frederick was diagnosed five years ago.
“He never complained. He fought the disease every day,” said Marguerite Kelly, a friend.
To help support Frederick in his fight, friends and family planned a concert and pig roast for the first weekend in August. A number of area businesses and individuals also donated raffle prizes to help raise additional funds, with all proceeds going to Parkinson’s Canada.
Sadly, Frederick passed away on July 3 at the age of 66, a month before the event.
Rather than cancel, they decided to run the event as a memorial for Frederick instead.
“It’s what he would have wanted,” Kelly said.
Music had always been a part of Frederick’s life.
“We come from a musical family,” Larry said. He had his brother had played together in a band years ago.
“He was a blues player. His motto was, ‘We are blues people. Blues never lets tragedy have the last word,’” Kelly said.
Larry’s band, Fuzzy Dice, had been slated to play at the event. Rather than let the loss of his brother stop him from taking the stage, Larry turned his performance into a tribute.
He and Kelly are already talking about holding the event again next year.
“With more research, hopefully people with Parkinson’s can have a better life,” Larry said, adding, “I’d like to see it right off the face of the earth.”
“Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disease. Once you get it, it just gets worse,” said Karen Dowell, community development coordinator for Parkinson Canada.
Some of the effects can include tremors, a change in a person’s speech or gait. People may also experience freezing of their lower body, so while they may be able to speak or move their hands and arms, they cannot get up or walk; this could last a few seconds, or hours. It’s possible that a person may lose the ability to show facial expressions, such as happiness.
Pain and fatigue are also associated with the later stages of the disease, as mobility becomes more of a challenge and muscles contract.
“It’s caused by a loss of dopamine, a chemical from the brain. Dopamine just diminishes as we age. There’s no cure yet. What we have is symptom relief through a synthetic replacement of the dopamine lost,” Dowell said.
However, the effectiveness of the treatment wears off within a few years.
“As the disease progresses, as your body gets used to the medication,” Dowell said.
While many may not be familiar with the disease now, it is becoming much more prevalent.
“Every hour of every day, someone in Canada is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease,” Dowell said. With the nation’s large aging population, “that number still will increase.”
While the average age for the onset of Parkinson’s is 60, Dowell said that people as young as 30 are being diagnosed.
Dowell lauded Larry and Kelly for hosting the event to benefit Parkinson’s Canada. Besides the $1,200 that was raised for the not-for-profit organization, it was also a way “bring education to the community,” Dowell said, not only to help people with the disease recognize the signs for earlier diagnosis, but also others in the community so that they can have more understanding when interacting with people with Parkinson’s.
For more information about the disease, visit www.parkinson.ca.
http://www.sachem.ca/news-story/6808954-event-doesn-t-let-tragedy-get-the-last-word/
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