Recently, I met with a group of team leaders for the upcoming, Moving Day. Moving Day is an event which benefits the National Parkinson's Foundation and has recently been making local headlines as we approach our very first Moving Day event to be held on November 2 at the Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary. The team kickoff event was everything I hoped it would be; full of tear filled stories, and unflagging optimism in the face of a terrible challenge. At one point, as is often the case, Michael J.Fox's name came up. I have found there to be a general gratitude among the Parkinson's community for the awareness he has brought to a disease which for a long time has lurked in the shadows despite the overwhelming number of people diagnosed. There is, however, some frustration, with Fox's foundation and some of the attention that he has brought to Parkinson's disease. That frustration appears to be that people assume that what Michael J. Fox struggles with is indicative of ALL Parkinson's patients. That is simply not the case. Parkinson's, much like Alzheimer's disease, affects each person in a dramatically different manner. People who don't know this incorrectly assume that everyone with Parkinson's must shake uncontrollably. If the physical manifestation of this assumed characteristic isn't present then the person is driven to make other and even more incorrect asumptions about the severity of the person's Parkinson's or how far the disease has thusfar progressed. Ignorance.
That being said, there are some common themes that many people struggling with Parkinson's experience. Among them, the loss of dexterity. Simple tasks like opening a jar or buttoning a shirt can become incredibly difficult. For former NC State Football Coach, Don Horton, that moment came during an away game when time was of the essence. Fortunately, former NC State Quarterback Russell Wilson, noticed Horton's difficulty buttoning his shirt and stepped in to lend a hand. When Don Horton returned home he opened up about the trouble he had had to his wife, a former children's clothing designer, and an idea was born.
MagnaReady Shirts are men's dress shirts equipped with magnets in place of buttons to make getting dressed easier for people struggling with Parkinson's and any number of other disabilities. From the outside they look like an ordinary dress shirt complete with buttons and all. The best attribute of this shirt is something that you will hopefully never notice.
There is currently no cure for Parkinson's but MagnaReady Shirts offer the next best thing; a daily victory in the battle for independence.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/29/2788830/husbands-parkinsons-disease-inspires.html
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