The initial effect that Parkinson’s had on me

Parkinson’s does not come at you in a straight line. It circles. It sneaks. It waits. For me, it felt like battling a mythological Greek hydra with 15 different heads: tremor, stiffness, balance, slowness, dyskinesia, fatigue and fog. Cut one off, and two more rise. Parkinson’s is no longer rare: today more than 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s, and roughly 90 000 Americans receive a new diagnosis each year.1

By age 80, the hydra had been with me a decade—stealing time, confidence and capability. I bumped into things. My voice changed. My feet hesitated. My once-sure handwriting now looked like a scribbled prescription. Even shoelaces became daily battles.

Some of the early effects were most notable on the trail. Hiking had always been my reset button, the place where rhythm returned to body and spirit. But Parkinson’s began to steal that rhythm….