Sandra Quigley shared her story as part of Parkinson's Awareness Day.
Sandra Quigley for World Parkinson's Day (Image: Colin Garvie)
Sandra Quigley, from Alexandria, realised she had Parkinson’s before she went to the doctor.
“It wasn’t a shock because I suspected it,” she said. “I had started to notice the shaking in my arm and then one night it started to shake all by itself and that’s when I realised this was something more.”owever, she was surprised when the condition, which she was diagnosed with between 2005 and 2006, brought out a creative talent she didn’t know existed.
In the years following her diagnosis, Sandra’s love, and talent, for painting and photography has grown. She is now the secretary for a local arts group and has even held an exhibition.
She said: “I never imagined I could actually draw like that. I would say that Parkinson’s brought it out in me. It certainly gave me the time and the motivation to explore any artistic talent that I did have.
“I’m forever showing everyone what I’ve done.
“There is a strong link between Parkinson’s and creativity.
“Some people get very musical, some people write loads. You see something and you want to do something with it.
“I started drawing and painting and making things. It’s great fun.”
Ahead of World Parkinson’s Day, on Wednesday, Sandra, 64, opened up to the Lennox Herald about the condition which affects more than 12,000 people in Scotland and said she has never let the disease hold her back.
“I think as you travel through life you get lots of blows and shocks,” she said. “It’s not something I had seen on the horizon so I was asking myself questions like how did this happen to me? But you’ve just got to get on with it.
“Parkinson’s is a movement disorder and it affects you from the minute you wake up to the minute you go to bed.
“It’s like a constant struggle, a constant battle to move sometimes.
“The medicine keeps the lid on it but it can be quite unpredictable. You can go through spells. Sometimes you’re not sure if your walking will start to get dodgy that day.
“You can stagger a bit and people can think you are drunk.”
Sandra lives in Alexandria with husband Allan, 64. She is mum to three grown-up children Clare, Emma and David and has three grandchildren.
She said many people still lack an awareness about Parkinson’s, a degenerative neurological condition, for which there currently is no cure.
“I think the misconception is that it’s an old person’s disease. Young people have it. It doesn’t matter whether you are male, female, young or old.
“I think people themselves are not really aware of what Parkinson’s is.
“It’s quite understandable because it varies from person to person. Some of my friends think going up and down stairs is difficult, others think I have to sit in a soft seat. They all have their own interpretation. It can be difficult to explain it to people.
“It can be like putting your hand in a rubber glove and then trying to do up a button. You are so clumsy.
“It’s a battle every day but exercise and attitude are important.
“The more you think about it the worse it gets and the more it affects your life.
“So if you don’t let it stop you doing things then the less effect it will have on you. You just get on with it.
“I do not ever give up on being able to do things.”
Sandra is retired and formerly worked as a manager for West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnership before doing freelance administration.
However, determined to prevent her Parkinson’s from holding her back, she decided to turn her attention to a hobby she had always thought of pursuing.
“I thought, you know, things are not going to get any better because this is a progressive illness. If there is something I want to do, now is the time to do it.
“So I packed the administration in and went on to do artwork.”
Sandra joined the Vale of Leven Mature Arts Group, run by community organiser Ivor Jackson.
“I always wanted to do art,” she explained.
“When the kids were wee I went back to school and sat at the back of the classroom and sat my Higher art - that was about 30 odd years ago.
“I just basically paint what I like. At the group we support each other because everyone has different skills and different talents.
“I use paint, pastels, wax, pencil. I’m learning how to tape down paper when using watercolour and how to mount my work.
“I draw from pictures. It can be therapeutic. I find that if I have my tremor and I’m drawing, the tremor can disappear because you are so focused.
“I would be really interested to know if there are any others in the community who have Parkinson’s and are doing artwork.”
Sandra sold some of her work in an exhibition at St Kessog’s Church Hall last year, but says she mostly makes her artwork for the love of it.
“I don’t actually put my work into big galleries or anything like that, but it’s always a thought, “ she said.
“At the moment I’ve been working on some Scottish scenes and I do a bit of photography as well because I was looking for things to paint.
“I took a photograph just last week of the sunset over the hill outside of our window and I sent it into Weather Watchers and they ended up using it on the BBC. I was well chuffed.”
Sandra attends a Parkinson’s UK group held in Helensburgh Church Hall and goes to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow every six months for checks.
“I wouldn’t say you ever get used to it,” she said. “But after 12 years you know what you’ve got to deal with everyday.
“The biggest thing is not being able to do things the way you would like, when you would like.
“It’s okay when the medicine kicks in. You’ve got to take it very regularly and take it at very specific times.
“Obviously everyone’s Parkinson’s is different so their medication and their timings are different but you have to get used to living with pills. It’s like your purse, your lipstick and your pills.
“Funnily enough one of the girls I worked with has been diagnosed as well and she just stays up in Bonhill so we are very friendly. We keep in touch and compare shakes.”
To find out more information about Parkinson’s UK visit www.parkinsons.org.uk or call the free, confidential helpline on 0808 800 0303.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/alexandria-woman-parkinsons-brought-out-12351302
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