Monday, December 8, 2008

Parkie Princess Party

I haven't blogged about the Parkinson's Princess Party that I went to in November, largely because I felt bad that it wasn't as much fun for Karen as it was for me. I went as her guest, and she was not feeling well at all (in fact, she had been to the emergency room just a couple of days earlier). Also, there were no MSA patients there, which was disappointing for her. Well, we had fun anyway! Picture about 20 middle-aged ladies (maybe 40 to 65 years old) sitting around a conference table wearing pink tiaras and feather boas and talking a mile a minute! What fascinating people we met there. I had met 2 or 3 of them before, since the party was at the Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, and that's fairly local for me. We were all so different, yet shared so much in common. We were all young onset patients, all fairly active (some VERY active indeed) and all interested in finding ways to help conquer Parkinson's and all neurological disorders. There were women there who ran marathons, or climbed 10,000 foot peaks, or skiied, or played tennis. There was one woman there who had just gone through DBS surgery after I think 15 years of living with PD. The whole thing was very uplifting and energizing and FUN!

I had made a T-shirt for the occasion. It was a long sleeved black shirt with the words "Parkie Princess" on it and a picture of a crown that looked like it was shaking, all done in rhinestones. I got so many compliments on it, that I decided to design a non-rhinestone version and sell it on the internet. The link to my "Parkie Princess" site is on the right under "Parkinson's Links". All profits from the sale of anything on that site will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research. I'm very excited about this! I sure hope that I can raise some funds this way. In any event, it's fun to do, though!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The party sounded fun indeed!!! I'm also linking to you for the t-shirts - fantastic idea!!!

Anonymous said...

Marian if anyone deserves a high five and YOU GO GIRLFRIEND it's you sweetie! Your T-shirt you wore to the Princess Party was indeed a huge hit...kiddo you have only touched upon the tip of what you can do...run with it my sweet friend...I am so proud of you and excited for you! Hugs B'nana

Marian said...

Thanks, ladies! I'm actually kind of proud of the design; it took a lot more work than I thought it would (or should!) Sherri: thanks for the link!

Rosemary said...

My hats off to anyone with a creative bone, because I sure don't have one.

I'm adding your blog to my sidebar links to Movement Disorder blogs.

Rosemary

matina said...

i was diagnosed of parkinson disease 5 years ago,i started azilect,then mirapex as the disease progressed in february last year,and i started on parkinson disease herbal medicine from ultimate life clinic,few months into the treatment  i made a significant recovery,almost all my symptoms are gone,great improvement with my movement and balance,it been a year and life has been so good for me,reach them through there website at www.ultimatelifeclinic.com

About Me

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I'm a lucky lady. I have a wonderful husband of 27 years, a fantastic 25 year old son (I'm so proud of him!) a loving and supportive family, the best friends in the world, a job that I love, and... Parkinson's Disease. I was diagnosed in September 2006. That was a jolt, but I'm learning to deal with it.