Dr. Nicole Jarvis speaks at the Nicole Jarvis M.D., Parkinson’s Research Foundation’s annual Winter Gala Thursday night at Embassy Suites in Norman. Jarvis challenged the crowd to help the foundation reach its goal of raising more than $350,000 this year to fund research.
NORMAN — When Dr. Nicole Jarvis was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at age 38, she knew that she would find a way to fight back.
She didn’t know she would end up raising over $1 million in five years.
After her diagnosis in 2011, the Norman-based physician started doing research.
“After my diagnosis, I immediately wanted to get involved with something locally through a national organization. I researched all the options and found that Team Fox and the Michael J. Fox Foundation are leaps and bounds above the rest in the way they do their spending.”
She got in touch with the Michael J. Fox Foundation and what they told her became a call to action.
There were no Team Fox fundraisers in the entire state. So, she got to work, planning her first event in about three months. She said she hoped that the organization’s first winter gala could attract 50 people and raise $10,000.
Then 300 people showed up.
“We raised over $100,000 that year,” she said. “It kind of snowballed from there.”
In 2013, Jarvis founded the Nicole Jarvis, M.D., Parkinson’s Research Foundation and has since risen to prominence as the top Parkinson’s research funding crusader in the state.
On Thursday, the foundation celebrated its sixth annual winter gala at Embassy Suites in Norman where a ballroom of 600 classily-clad donors came together to raise over $100,000. Jarvis said that’s money that will go directly toward research funding, as her foundation is a volunteer-based organization.
A portion of the funds are used for state-based services, including some forward-thinking physical and voice therapy programs that incorporate singing, boxing, and the newest addition, ballet.
“We have no paid employees,” she said. “So every single penny that we raise is donated to research or patient services. That’s why I think we’re a unique situation and Team Fox is the same. All of the money we donate to Team Fox is used for research. They have very limited expenses.”
Jarvis thanked everyone in attendance Thursday night, noting that Norman is a special place. Speaking to kick off the event, OU women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale agreed.
“One of the great things about living in Norman, Oklahoma is it’s a big city that feels like a small town,” Coale said. “And it feels like a small town because of the invisible threads that bind people together.
“People in Norman show up and they give back and they take care of their own, as is evidenced by the money we’ve raised over the past five years.”
Jarvis said her foundation has raised about $1.3 million since 2012, and roughly $300,000 so far this year.
She said her goal this year was to raise $350,000. With about two weeks remaining in 2017, she still believes it can happen.
Jarvis said the fight won’t end until a cure is discovered, but there are some exciting new developments in research to combat the symptoms of the disease.
“The biggest thing in research right now has to do with alpha synuclein. It’s a protein that gets tangled up and when it does that in your brain you get Parkinson’s. That is where a lot of the research is going on right now, but we also have projects going on in every single area that could lead to a cure.”
Fellow physician and longtime friend Dr. Kim Fletcher said there’s always hope.
“Science is evolving,” she said. “We’re discovering all kinds of new cures for things that used to be incurable. So, why not this? It just takes money and things like this push research forward.”
Fletcher said it doesn’t happen without people and praised Jarvis for her courageous attitude and initiative. That sentiment was a common thread Thursday night. Jack Jarvis, Nicole’s 12-year-old nephew, said he’s extremely proud of his aunt and the work she’s doing to combat a disease that affects nearly 10 million people worldwide.
“I’m pretty lucky to have an aunt like that,” he said. “Not too many people have aunts that are trying to cure diseases worldwide.”
For more information about the Nicole Jarvis, M.D., Parkinson’s Research Foundation, visit jarvismdparkinsonsfoundation.org.
http://www.normantranscript.com/news/oklahoma/foundation-raises-over-k-at-annual-gala-for-parkinson-s/article_e02d09e0-74e5-532e-96a1-e10ac18cbfb0.html
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