Parkinson’s cost Maria her job
About 10 years ago, while Maria was walking with her sister in sunny Vancouver, she noticed her left foot was dragging. She couldn’t explain it, other than thinking perhaps it had something to do with the bunion she’d recently had removed.
Upon returning home to Montreal, her doctor recommended she see a neurologist to further explore the numbness in her foot and leg.
And so began Maria’s 10-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
“Sometimes it’s so bad, I hope I don’t wake up in the morning,” Maria confessed. “But, when I do wake up the next day I think: There must be a reason. And so I move around as best I can, I smell the air, I do things you take for granted.”
Maria said she doesn’t take anything for granted anymore, not even the ability to speak on the phone for an interview.
“My memory is going, and I’m not always this articulate, but I just took my medication,” she told a reporter during a recent conversation.
Something as simple as going to the movies or playing a game of Scrabble is no longer viable for Maria, and neither is work. Before her diagnosis, Maria, who has a degree in business administration, worked as a secretary at McGill University.
She managed to work for three more years following her Parkinson’s diagnosis. Maria suffers from dyskinesia, which means she’ll go into fits of shaking and twitching, without warning, which can last for hours, exhausting her and making it impossible to perform tasks most people find simple.
Even after quitting her secretarial position, Maria took on parttime work as a typist to keep herself employed and maintain an income.
“Last October, sharp pains in my left shoulder made it impossible to work,” Maria explained, sadly. And so she had to quit her part-time job as well.
Maria, 51, is fully focused on a coming procedure she hopes to receive soon that will allow for constant delivery of her medication.
“This procedure will essentially insert a tube in my stomach that will administer my medication (to control the shaking, pain and mental awareness) 24/7,” Maria said with enthusiasm.
Maria’s procedure, which is covered by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec, could drastically change her quality of life, a quality she strives to maintain.
“I never know what my day is going to be like until I wake up,” Maria said of her desire to be more involved in the community.
When Maria receives her $125 cheque from the Gazette Christmas Fund, she said she’ll be using it to help pay for her medication.
“I’m going to be selfish in a good way,” Maria said.
Moments aren’t lost on Maria, and this Christmas, she’ll be taking in each one because she knows there must be a reason she’s there to enjoy them.