Cinema co-owner organizes Parkinson's support group

December 21, 2016  BY DYKE HENDRICKSON STAFF WRITER

NEWBURYPORT — There’s a true-life story developing at the Screening Room, and it is poignant and important — but not particularly uplifting.

Andrew Mungo, co-owner of the beloved local cinema, recently made public that he has Parkinson’s disease.

He will be starting a Newburyport Parkinson’s Support Group here in mid-January.

Mungo is a well-known personality, in part because he managed a highly visible Kickstarter.comcampaign several years ago to raise money to buy new projection equipment for his 90-seat theater.

He started with a goal of $60,000 and raised close to $108,000.

Mungo, 65, has had two careers: the Screening Room and the post office.

He recently revealed some of his thoughts about how he reacted to news that he had the condition.

In his role as a letter carrier, “Last winter was pretty much on the mild side, yet I could barely drag myself through my rounds. Then I thought about my primary physicians who told me a few times I would have early onset arthritis.

“The doctor was right, but I never thought it would be so severe. With every step I seemed to be lifting a weight and my fingers could no longer flip through the mail.

“I went to a new physician and she told me yes, I was arthritic but there was something else. I went on to a neurologist, who diagnosed Parkinson’s. 

“I thought to myself, so this is what Parkinson’s felt like. I walked like a duck, could barely scribble my name and I was always wiped out. Yet I felt lucky. I wasn’t in pain. I had the problem identified and with proper medication, began a slow improvement.”

Medical authorities say that Parkinson’s disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system.

Early in the disease, the most obvious symptoms are shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking.

Thinking and behavioral problems may also occur. Dementia becomes common in the advanced stages of the disease. 

Depression and anxiety are also common, occurring in more than a third of people with Parkinson’s, and other symptoms include sensory, sleep and emotional problems.

One of the most prominent patients in America is actor Michael J. Fox, who has raised money and testified before Congress about the condition.

The late boxer Muhammad Ali also was a Parkinson’s patient.

Mungo said that a new Newburyport Parkinson’s Support Group will meet Thursday, Jan. 19, at 1 p.m. at the senior community center at 331 High St.

The first guest speaker will be Ray James, a nurse with the Parkinson Disease Association at the Boston University Medical Center.

Mungo, who has attended support meetings in local communities, said, “A Parkinson’s support group is a confidential group. Nothing discussed at such a meeting is ever shared outside the walls of the group.”

Dyke Hendrickson can be reached at 978-961-3149 or at dhendrickson@newburyportnews.com.

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