My Life With Parkinson's

Five years ago, while rehearsing a speech for my job as executive director of the American Society of Magazine Editors, I stood at the podium and started feeling like a bobble-head doll. I couldn’t keep my head steady or get the words out the way I had done countless times before. At the time, I thought I might have had a stroke. Looking back, I realize that these were some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, the same debilitating illness that dramatically changed the lives of actor Michael J. Fox and boxing icon Muhammad Ali.

My life hasn’t been the same since that day in 2003. Even with my medications, I still have tremors at least two to three times daily. When that happens, I can’t talk on the phone or type because my arms get so tight that I lose strength. The tremors knock me off balance and make me feel exhausted.

Through it all, though, I’ve discovered an altruistic side of myself that I never knew before. Helping others with Parkinson’s—an incurable chronic degenerative disease—has become my mission. Since my diagnosis, I’ve raised nearly $200,000 for the cause, and I’m working on new ways to help. My hope is to inspire others to join me.