I think all of us are heroes

Barry Blaustein

Victoria Miller

In his book, The Seven Skills You Need to Survive, Thrive, and Accomplish More Than You Ever Imagined, Tim Hague, Sr. shows how we can all learn to persevere in the face of daily struggles – or even life-changing illness. Victoria Miller, one of this week’s Parkinson’s Heroes has that exact “Never give up, never give in” attitude. Her husband, Bob Miller, tells her amazing story. 

Victoria has been on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Chapter of the APDA since 2013 and convinced Bob to be a part of it as well (he is now the President). Her primary function is to help Support Groups throughout the state (currently 53 groups). She has initiated leader gatherings, presented ideas on how to run better meetings, suggested speakers and even secured $300 worth of books and materials that were distributed to every support group. Victoria’s passion is to make sure every person with PD in the state — not just those in the larger metro areas — is represented. What is even more amazing is that she accomplished all of this while undergoing DBS surgery TWICE (infections complicated the first) over an 8-month period and breaking her ankle in two places after the second, without missing a single meeting (and even saw the musical Hamilton in Des Moines). She still has stiffness in her lower leg but she keeps moving, and participating in the local Delay the Disease classes and the local support group.

As Bob says, with some understatement, “What can I say, she’s a fighter.” And a hero.

Barry Blaustein

Several months ago, I profiled Barry Blaustein, who is in my StoPD boxing class. In a conversation with Alex Montaldo, founder of StoPD, he named Barry as a Parkinson’s Hero because of his involvement with the greater Parkinson’s community. Barry, who has had a long career as a film writer and director, now teaches screen writing at a local university. His background has prepared him well to be an official spokesperson for the Parkinson’s Foundation. He now travels to speak at PD conferences around the country. His inspirational speeches help many with PD learn about the good things about having Parkinson’s. “It’s still awful having it, but if God gives you lemons, you got to make lemonade!”

Barry has spoken on behalf of the Parkinson’s Foundation to members of Congress to get sponsors for legislation that would cover mental health under Medicare. He is very proud of the fact that 2 of the 7 legislators that signed on as sponsors of the bill were people he personally spoke to. Now he is currently writing a one man show about having Parkinson’s. I can’t wait for the premier!

On Parkinsonsdisease.net this week

Keeping Your Sanity Under Quarantine

By Sharon Krischer · April 20, 2020

It is now Week 5 under quarantine for most of us.  Because we were exposed to COVID-19 two weeks earlier on a trip, Mr. Twitchy and I have actually been home for almost 7 weeks now.  And we are definitely getting cabin fever here.

One of the biggest problems we have had is keeping track of time.  When there is nothing to reference what day of the week it is or what time it is, everything becomes a blur.  To read the rest of the article, go to https://parkinsonsdisease.net/living/staying-productive-covid-19/