It’s almost time to hit the trail with this year’s Trip 1 team!
Meanwhile, we haven’t shared here that board member Diane Schuirman-Hagedorn was the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Within Our Reach virtual Parkinson’s Symposium.
Diane spoke about four strategies for living well with Parkinson’s, and some of our 2021 hikers helped shape her presentation.
A key strategy Diane shared is Find your community. Research tells us a social life is as important as exercise in living well with Parkinson’s. Diane said the silver lining in her diagnosis is the Parkinson’s community she has found, and she spoke about how Pass to Pass is part of her community.
Diane’s other strategies are:
Take great care of yourself. It’s often a challenge to overcome apathy and fatigue and be consistent with healthy habits. Ask: How do I want to feel? Then ask: What do I need to think and do to feel the way I want to feel?
Accept your reality. Make space for grief and anger. Then, find a way to move forward.
Be your own best advocate. No one knows what’s going on with your body and in your life better than you do.
The recording below includes Diane’s keynote address. They introduce Diane at about 20:30, she speaks about Pass to Pass at about 45:55, and her Q&A wraps up at about 1:04:00. The rest is presentations by neurologists – which you may find useful – and ads from symposium sponsors.