I remember my first visit with Kitt the cat to the vet 16 years ago, as the doc examine him he pointed out that his skull have a ridge from being fractured before, his bone structure was not good, he had fleas, ear mites, and probably worms, all this was wrong with this little feral kitten that somehow had made its way into my mom’s flower bed and nested down. You see my mom just knew as she showed me this little flea infested feral kitten that as a new home owner I would take him in.

As the vet gave me the pills, drops and medicine it would take to give this kitten a chance he made this comment, “This is not a good cat!”
This is not a good cat, these words which were starting to make my vet a prophet, as I watched my new house guest preferred to crap in my house plant pots over his new litter box, his habit of digging in the future house plant crap boxes. He loved to dig out 2/3rd of his food to get to his dinner. He had to have fresh water even if the dished was just filled an hour before, yet he would drink out of anything outside! Kitt also didn’t have the typical meow, his was just very low Mummer, and you could hardly hear him. He also had the habit of not wanting to be in the same room with me. When you played with him he was more than happy to show you his claws and just how much blood he could draw (which lead to him being the only cat I’ve had declawed) from his handy work. He could escape any collar made and made sure I always had to have an extra one in stock. He loved starting fights with the other cats in the neighborhood although he was under weight and had no front claws.
Even with his faults Kitt had his good side also, he loved to curl up on my shoulder as a kitten to sleep, He like to sit on the corner of my desk as I would write my blogs or posted on FB, Kitt was not your typical cat and I had grown to love that about him, he was as independent as they came yet, he would always find some way to show me he was mine. As he got older he started to like to rest on my belly as we watched TV, although most of the time he had his ass in my face. He would always make me come to the door and call him inside for the night twice, never coming on the first time even if I could see him. He love to sit on my luggage as I would try to pack for a trip. His favorite spot outside was curled up in my flowers beds blending into the background, I cannot but help think of that day I got him from my mom’s flower bed.

This has been hard for me to write, you see Kitt’s health has been declining for the past month and today I had to make the difficult decision to let him go, I know he is in a better place and feels no more pain. The vet was right Kitt was not a good cat! He was a great cat!

As I sat on my deck resting after mowing the yard and now grilling a steak for dinner this evening a lot weighs on my mind, you see I lost my mom on this day 10 years ago. I was golfing with Mark Yager, Tod Gordon and Tom Kmak at Tom’s club Shadow Glenn. Mark, Tod and I were heading to Maryville after golf for a tournament the next day. We were on the ninth fairway and I decided that at 4:30 on this Friday the 23^rd of June I could shut off my phone. As I reach for the phone it ringed, the lady on the other end of the call explained she was a social worker for the Cameron Hospital and wanted to know the last time I had spoken with my mother? The time was 4:31 and I’ll never forget it. I told her that we had talked the day before and asked her want was wrong? She explained that she had called 911 that afternoon and was having trouble breathing. When I asked how she was doing her reply was that I should get to the hospital as soon as I could! Its 98 miles from the course to Cameron or about 1 hr 38 min’s, I made it in just over an hour! The doctor told me that she was in a induced coma and was having congested heart failure, this was a shock to me for all of her ailments over the years she had never mention any heart related issues, but as we would find out over the next few days she had been seeing a cardiologist in St Joe.

After making the phone calls to my brother and two sisters I went to mom’s house to gets some rest, as I pulled into the drive I could see all the flats of plants and flowers lying around on the deck, I suddenly recall my last phone conversation with her, mom’s birthday was coming up on the 29^th and for her birthday she said all she wanted was for me to come up this weekend and help her get catch up on her planting. We made plans for that Sunday to take on this (as she called it) small project. Now those who knew mom also knew that when it came to her flowers nothing was small! There was over 30 flats of flowers awaiting my help. Mom and I have had the talk many time of her buying habits on flowers, now I didn’t care if she spent all her retirement on flowers (as it turned out she almost did) but that she needed to limit herself to a few flats at a time because she never could get all of them into the ground or pots in time and always had a large number of plants wasted. I have been mom’s yard boy for a number of years and have installed 3 water gardens and planted over 5,000 tulips alone! These photos are a few of her yard.

I spent the next 12 days between the office, hospital and her yard, looking back I think I knew in my heart she was never coming home but I still felt I needed to get the yard in shape for her return. Mom passed on the 5^th of July and I believe she waited till then knowing that my favorite holiday is the 4^th and she didn’t want to ruin it for me. It was this time I spent in her flower gardens that I became “The Accidental Gardener or Amateur Botanist” I am today, all of my taste in my yard came from her, even some of my hostas are off shoots of hers. In fact a lot of the flowers at her funeral were plotted plants from her yard and we encouraged friends to take them home and transplant them in their own yards.

Now those of you who have seen my yard and praised me for it you now know how and way I take such pride in it, these are a few shoots of my yard this year.

After all it’s for her enjoyment too!   

 Stew

What an emotional weekend! Spent Thursday evening packing my equipment and prepping my bike for the Dirty Kanza 100 Half Pint, that’s the 100 mile version of the Dirty Kansas 200 mile gavel endurance race though the Flint Hills of Kansas just outside of Emporia.

 I was full of excitement as I drove to 99 miles to Emporia on Friday morning as my mind was racing with thoughts from did I pack everything I needed and did I train hard enough? (More on the training later) Downtown Emporia was hopping with people and excitement as I pulled into town to get registered for my race, this town really pulls out all the stops to support this event. Everyone was very supporting even the Emporia State people working their tent as I asked (Wearing my Northwest polo) where was the Northwest tent? I hooked up with Stephen and Kim Johnson who have been to ones who have gotten me into this world of gavel riding and have been more than supportive in my training. During the rider’s meeting they were excited about the course packed and dry condition and were expecting a new record time.

 

I first heard about the passing of Muhammad Ali as I was getting settled into bed for a good night rest before we had to get up at 4 AM to get ready for the 6 AM race start. I spent the next hour laying in the dark thinking about all he had accomplice in his life from his boxing career to his fight with Parkinson’s, the image of him lighting the Olympic touch as he shook with excitement from the effects of Parkinson’s. I thank god for all that Muhammad has done for raising awareness for Parkinson’s. after I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and I was reading up on this disease it was one of his quotes that help get me going in my awareness and fund raising campaign, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

I awoke to the sound of thunder, how far off I wondered. (Always wanted to say that) looked at my clock and it was 3:30 AM, no one had said anything about rain this weekend! Thankfully the storm moved though fast but as we would find out later it was a very heavy downpour. As I got into line for the rolling start of the DK100 I was making sure that I was near the rear of the pack being my first gavel race. As they announced the 10 second countdown the streets came alive with the sounds of cheering and cowbells from the hundreds that showed up to see us off, what a impressed slight to experience! It was an easy escorted pace to the edge of town where I would get my first taste of what the storm had left behind, there was a back log of riders waiting to take their turn down the first road as it was covered with 10-12 inches of water, as I would see very soon it’s not the water but the mud that would play hell on riders drivetrains and put many of the DK200 rider down for repairs very early in the race. As the preview showed after the flooding the next 5 miles were at a good easy grade and pace, a bit slow from being bunched up though, then the famous flint gavel and start of the hills. The flint gavel got me at mile 20 with a flat tire, I was impressed with my tire tube exchange time since it has been 30 some years since the last time I changed on out!  After over 2 ½ hours of riding the first cramp set in on my left calf it wasn’t bad at first but very nagging. I think it was more of the heat that got to me after the 34 mile mark and I was drained by the 38 mile mark and decided to pull the plug and call support to come fetch me. As I waited there for a 45 minutes (they told me 20 minutes) I meet a new friend in Shannon Bond who was in the DK200 and was one of the riders taken victim by the flood water and mud early in his race, stopped to see if I was okay, he had broken his derailleur hanger and had converted his 11 speed to an single speed. Shannon was wearing a Cycle City Team jersey which is Joe Fox’s store in Parkville where I have purchased my Cannondale which Shannon was riding also. After seeing that he knew he was not going to make the cutoff time at the checkpoint to continue the DK200, but was determined to make it into a 100 mile event with one speed I offered to let him take whatever he needed off my bike to help him finished.  Now as Shannon got his bike going again I notice it had been an hour and a half since I was to be picked up, I called and was informed that a rider injury that was requiring a life flight out of the flint hills it would be another hour to get to me. As I sat there next to my now in pieces bike I realized that I haven’t seen another rider for 30 minutes and with the recovery time I  was having regrets for throwing in the towel, but once the call was made I was officially out of the race and my bike was un ride able now to boot. You don’t realize just how far off the beaten path you are till the Kansas City Jeep Club pick you up and it take 30 minutes to get you back to the nearest check point.

 As the next couple of hours passed I was feeling very disappointed in myself for not finishing and for letting down all my supporters who have been backing me for the past months. I was feeling depressed enough that once I got back to the hotel I packed up and drove home instead of attending the block party and celebrate the arrivals of the ones who finished their race. My depression quickly went away as I got on my computer and read all the comments on Facebook from friends and family sharing their feelings of my attempt and I realized that they all looked at it like it was a victory not a defeat. It was Sunday afternoon that I got online to view the results from the DK and saw that of the 1,600 riders in the two races only 1,053 finished.

 Looking back on my training for the race I now know where I need to focus my efforts for next year’s DK and after a week off I will start training for it and I will finish this time. I was reading some more on Muhammad tonight and came across this quote of his and feel it’s a perfect way to end this.

 “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” Muhammad Ali

Thanks to all my friends that believe in me, Stew

Got the design proofs back today for my 1st Dirty Kanza 100 Jersey, As a PWP (Person with Parkinson’s) I got into Gravel Riding as a way to exercise to defeat the efforts of Parkinson’s.

I want to thank my training partner Stephen Johnson from AllTruck Sale for his support and keeping me focus and a shout out to Joe Fox at Cycle City in Parkville for equipment advise. I’m doing this 100 mile endurance race for the challenge and to help raise awareness to Parkinson’s

There are 23 days left till Moving Day 2016. Dr Robert Paul has personally offering a weekend getaway at the Great Wolf Lodge of your choice for the lucky winner of this year’s Parkinson’s Moving Day Raffle. The winning ticket holder will receive a $750.00 gift certificate for use with any Great Wolf location. This amount will cover a family suite for Friday and Saturday night, including use of the water park. This raffle is good for those who donate to either Robert or to me.

On Moving Day (6/11/16), We will assign the appropriate amount of raffle tickets to your name and pull a name out of a hat. Winner, winner, Great Wolf Vacation!!
25 /25=1 raffle ticket
50 /25=2+1=3 raffle tickets
75 /25=3+2=5 raffle tickets
100 /25=4+3=7 raffle tickets
125 /25=5+4=9 raffle tickets
150 /25=6+5=11 raffle tickets
175 /25=7+6=13 raffle tickets
200 /25=8+7=15 raffle tickets
And so on….
More prizes for Runners-up will be added as we go! We already have Royals tickets to put in the mix (Hyvee section) and looking for more.

As a team we are at $7,460 or 29% of the $25,000 team goal. Go to this link and then clink on the name of the person you want to donate to on the team roster to get to their page and donate.

http://www3.parkinson.org/site/TR/MovingDayEvent/NPFHeartland?team_id=40486&pg=team&fr_id=2471

Thanks Stew

Why is being #1 so important to us? Is it the recognition you get? Is it having bragging rights? Is it something you need to feed your ego? Is it something you crave? Is it the pride that comes with reaching #1? Is it the satisfaction that all your hard work has paid off? Is it the fear of failure that you might feel not being #1? Once you get there you feel everyone is gunning for you. You have to find a way to stay on top. You need motivation to not let it get away from you.
By now most of you who know me probably think I’m writing this about my beloved Bearcats football team, well you would be wrong. This is about my “Moving Day” team “Stew’s Crew”. We have been the top team in Kansas City since we started three years ago, that is three straight years of being #1, and raising almost $50,000 in the process.

Why is being #1 important to me? It’s not the recognition, that belongs to my team members that dig deep into their pocket and donate. Bragging rights, the only thing I like to brag about is all the amazing friends I have that support me! Feeding my ego, nope that has been checked at the door by the amount of people that have join “Stew’s Crew”, you really don’t know just how many friends you have till they are needed.

My pride is not reaching #1, its doing all I can to help others with this terrible disease. Now there is satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping others with the amount being raised. I don’t have any fear of not being #1, I have a fear of not raising as much as I can to help others. Each year I hear about how we are the team to beat and others are gunning for us, I think this is great and would not be disappointed if we are topped, that only means we raised the bar and have helped other teams raise more. Getting motivation? All I have to do is look in the mirror each morning and see the effects that Parkinson’s has on me and that give me all he motivation I need to do all I can so Parkinson’s will not have this effect on others.

Now being #1 does has it advantage, its means that “Stew’s Crew” has done all it can to help, and trust me there is no better feeling than that!

As of today there are 33 days left and Moving Day Kansas City has raised $106,598 of the $125,000 goal. “Stew’s Crew” has raised $5,215 (in 3rd place)of our $25,000 goal, as I see it if we can get to our goal we will be the team to get Kansas City over the top of their goal.

You can donate to me at this link.

https://secure3.convio.net/prkorg/site/Donation2?idb=885772194&df_id=4443&FR_ID=2471&mfc_pref=T&4443.donation=form1&PROXY_ID=1139798&PROXY_TYPE=20

Or you can go to this link and join “Stew’s Crew” as a team member so your friends can donate to you. If you notice team members Brad Neuberger and Robert Paul are also in the top 10 walkers.

http://www3.parkinson.org/site/TR/MovingDayEvent/NPFHeartland?team_id=40486&pg=team&fr_id=2471

Either way all donations go to the team!

Thanks Stew

Merry Christmas everyone! As I sit here just having watching the original “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” I can’t believe how many holiday memories came flooding back into my mind.

There always the ride from Cameron over to my Grandparents farm in Marceline MO, honestly it was just like the song “Over the river and through the woods” we would always take the back way to the farm which actually cross a small creek and through the wooded county side.

My Grandparents Farm

Next was always the anticipation as we waited for my Aunt Kate driving up from KC to arrive? I sure it was a joy (not) as since my grandparents farm sat on top of a hill we could see the cars headlights from two miles away as they came out of town on highway JJ, I sure it got old as 4 kids screamed out “its aunt Kate!, its aunt Kate!” at the first 10 cars before it was hers.

Christmas dinner was the best, my grandparent’s farm provided all the food prepared, grandma would slave for hours to prepare and mom made sure we got there early so she could help. I’ll never forget the way the home smelled from the cooking and baking. Because of the size of the farm house we always had to set up the children table in the front room, I’m calling it at table but it was really the old folding card table my grandma used to play Canasta with her friends on. I was always doomed to eat at the kids table even as a young adult because of my place by age. Now I know most families would open their gifts Christmas morning, but not us we always open them right after our Christmas dinner.

My Brother Greg with me and Grandpa playing Santa

For years I thought that it was because of us kids not wanting to wait till morning, but my mom once told me it was all because Paw (my grandfather) could not wait till morning to see our joy as we ripped open packages that took hours to wrap in less than 10 minutes! Not wanting to spoil the surprise we always had more gifts under the tree form Santa in the morning.

After the carnage of the gifts and the trying on of the Christmas gifted clothes we would all get dressed up on off to Midnight Mass, now I know Midnight Mass was just a little longer than the usual, but as a kid it might as well been an hour more. Who had time for mass with all those new toys, the GI Joe’s, Etch A Sketch, Mouse Trap, Lincoln Logs, Match Box Cars, The game of Cooties, your first BB Gun, you know the ones with all the small safe parts that need to be played with?

Clockwise from me in the center(look at those locks) my Aunt Kate and cousin John, Greg, Grandpa, Grandma, Lori, Julie and Mom

I’m sure you all have great memories of your past Christmas, it doesn’t have to be years ago, it could be something special that happen last year. Many of my friends are making new one with their own grandchildren now, wow where did the time go? All I know is it’s not gone; all you have to do is unwrap it!

One of my favorite ornaments and my home

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!

Stew

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends! I posted this on back in 2013, but after reading it again thought I’d repost with some updates.

What’s your favorite Turkey, Ham, Rolls, Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Yams, Cranberry sauce, or Pumpkin pie?  Are you starting to drool a bit yet? I must admit I am, or maybe it’s just the Parkinson’s dammit! Anyway it is Thanksgiving weekend and I been thinking what does this holiday mean to me.

In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is commonly, but not universally, traced to a poorly documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. I bring this up because of my family history on my mom’s side. John Washburn (1597-1669) my 9^th great grandfather immigrated to Plymouth in 1631 followed by his wife Margery and sons John and Phillip in 1635. John my 8^th great grandfather married Elizabeth Mitchell in 1645, who was the granddaughter of Francis Cooke who came over on the Mayflower (yes I have family ties to the Mayflower) in 1620. I find it awesome to think that some of my relatives were around to celebrate some of the first Thanksgivings.

Now my first memories of Thanksgiving are of getting in the car with the family and making the 70 mile trip from Cameron to my grandparent’s farm just outside of Marceline. The attached photo is of our Thanksgiving dinner in 1964. The blonde in the front is my older sister Lori and going clockwise my aunt Kate (mom’s sister) my mother Jo Ann, the baby of the family Julie, my father Jim (Edgar), me (age 3), peaking in is my grandfather Paw (John), then my big brother Gregory.

I remember these Thanksgivings full of fun, food, board games, and of course watching the Macy’s parade followed by football in black and white of course. The meals were awesome because being on the farm my grandmother and mom made almost the whole meal from scratch with most everything raised right there. The whole family hasn’t gotten together in years and I miss those holidays.

Now to the real meaning of this holiday for me, it’s very simple. It’s time for me to think of all the things and people in my life that I’m thankful for. I’m thankful that God gave me just enough talent to walk on the Northwest basketball team, if he had given me any more I probably would have gone to another school to play and would not have made some of my best friends in my life though Northwest, #OABAAB!

I’m thankful that I have my health, yes I know I have Parkinson’s but having seeing first hand some of my friends fight for their lives against cancer and seeing some lose their fight I realize each and every day there are worst things than Parkinson’s. I’m thankful for all the support that I get from friends and strangers to cope with Parkinson’s and giving me the drive I have to help raise money and awareness to help others with Parkinson’s. From the bottom of my heart thanks to all of you!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone.

“Stew”

I sure each of us have judged something or someone by their looks or maybe with today’s technology we made a quick judgement based on a very short glimpse of a video. In some cases the first impression is not the correct one, sometimes the info given to you is by design to sway you to a decision that someone else wants you to believe. In this day and age if you see a 30 second short clip of an event that leads you to form an opinion, don’t be surprised if there was another 30 seconds before or after to turn your opinion around 180 degrees.

Last year during the World Series games there was something amiss during the games, there was a man dressed in orange looking like he was going deer hunting instead of attending the World Series. We now know this man as “The Marlins Man” and our first reaction for most of us was who was this man and how did we get those seats right behind home plate? Then the news got ahold of the story and told us that the Royals had offered him a Royals jersey and or other seats which he turned down. How dare he do this, the game is not about him we thought. Then we hear that he’s just a rich attorney from Florida who is buying his way into the spot light, not exactly scoring points with the people in the Midwest.

Let’s jump forward to this year, once again starting during the ALCS here’s “The Marlins Man” in our front row again and now he’s got the nerve to spend time tweeting on his phone during the games! He’s quoted as saying that he blocked 500 people from his twitter account for saying “vicious, mean things”. Then he did the last thing we were expecting, tragic had struck Kansas City and two of our brave firefighters were taken from we when a wall fell on them as they were doing their jobs. “The Marlins Man” or Laurence Leavy as we now know his name, wore a KC hat and shirt to help raise money for their families, but wait he also donated $10,000 of his own money to them.

Laurence has always use his money to go to sporting events and proudly wear his Marlins jersey as he’s a big fan of theirs, cannot blame him for that as I try to wear my Northwest Missouri colors as often as I can and would do the same. I now know that Laurence had a health scare last march he was diagnosed with liver cancer and given six to eight months to live, on a second checkup it turned out to be kidney stones and a mass of scar tissue. As was my diagnosis of Parkinson’s six years ago this was a wakeup call for Laurence to enjoy life and pay it forward as much as he could. He has donated thousands of dollars more to the V Foundation, while winning five auctions to have unique experiences, one that includes being in the pace car at Sunday’s New York Marathon. He has brought over 700 people to sit in the best seats along with him since the first of the year.

It’s stories like Laurence’s that help inspire me to keep on living life as full as I can and to keep doing all that I can to bring awareness to Parkinson’s and raise as much as I can to help other with this dreadful disease. I hope to see “The Marlins Man” in the front row again next fall, and if my beloved Bearcats make it to Kansas City for the D2 Football Championships this December he has a invitation to come sit with me and my Bearcat friends in his Marlins jersey.

As you can see, you cannot tell a book by its cover, or get the whole story from a 15 to 30 second video clip. You need as Paul Harvey says “the rest of the story”.

Thanks Stew

Have you ever opened a Time Capsule? Have you ever help placed one? I’m betting you had and have may not even realized you did.

The following description was written by someone else who witness the opening of a time capsule that was placed into the corner stone of the old school in Cameron MO when it was built in 1914 and opened in 2014.

“The time capsule itself was made of copper and welded tight. Every item was in pristine condition. They had managed to fit about 3 dozen items in that little box! A short sample of items from memory…complete copies of the three Cameron newspapers, a KC Star newspaper, a penny, an Indian head nickel, pictures of the school this one would replace, pictures of folks in McCorkle park, pictures of school children marching down 3rd street in support of the new school, various school related items ie. report cards, pamphlets etc., a ribbon and medallion from the Joseph Hooker Post of Cameron-the organization for Civil War veterans. A couple of my little favorites…3 rubber bands that were still good! and two 1914 paper clips, they were round in shape.”

Most time capsule you read about all seem to be 100 years old, but the ones that I’m thinking about are not that old nor are they in a sealed box. They are the ones that each of us have in our own memory’s. They are the stories you share with friends and family, events that you share with those who are younger that yourself, with the price of gas dropping and raising I recall paying $0.59 a gallon and recall when gas broke the dollar mark and all the gas pumps only went to $0.99 so you had to take the amount on the pump and double it. I remember the summer of 76 and celebrating the Bicentennial. Last week I got together with some of my Sig Ep fraternity brothers for a golf tournament and drinks after, this are the time you lock away into you own time capsule, you are making new ones as you sit around reliving old ones.

There are also objects you may have around you every day that are in your capsule, I have many such as a track and field medal for the standing broad jump my grandfather won at a track meet in Maryville in 1919, a stone from my grandparent’s driveway where as a youth I spent my summers. Artwork my mom did in college while studying fashion design some of which I have framed and on displayed in my home. I also have almost all ticket stubs from any event I’ve gone to be it a sporting event or a concert, all I have to do in look at any of this items and the memories come flooding back.

The best time capsules are the ones we share with family and friends, most of my friends are at the age of not only having children but also grandkids. I hope you are sharing you memories with them just as I’m sure your parents and grandparents have done with you. They will thank you for sharing them one day. You don’t need to put items in a tin box and cover it up for 100 years to make a time capsule! I made some this weekend and I’m sure you did too!

Thanks Stew

I wish to thank all those that made time to wish me a happy birthday last week and thanks to all those that came to my wine party to celebrate with me.

Now for this week’s experience, Arrow Truck Sales for who I have worked for 17 years now has a “Diversity Week” in which they set up difference event during the week for our employees to have a chance to experience different cultures, food and experiences that they may not be familiar with. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to let all my colleges experience firsthand just what I go through each and every day. The National Parkinson Foundation Heartland has just the thing I needed for this, “The KCP&L Bernie Beaudoin Moving Experience” a hands-on group of activities designed to simulate the everyday challenges of functioning with Parkinson’s Disease.”

I must admit I have known about this educational tool for a couple of years but until last week I have never checked it out, I guess since I had to experience Parkinson’s each and every day I felt that I didn’t need to, or for that matter want to! You see I know that I have Parkinson’s and I do not want to see anything that will remind me of what I have in store for me in the future. My progression in this dreadful disease is not as aggressive as in others, and I plan on using this to keep getting the word out and raise funds to help those in more need than me.

I had mixed feelings about watching my co-workers get the experiences that I go through each day, I wondered, would they look at me different? Would they pity me? Wondering how they would react weighed heavy on my mind. After seeing the reactions of my co-workers as they went through the different experiences of Parkinson’s and their questions on which ones affected me open my eyes to the fact that they would not pity me, but instead show more support in my fight against Parkinson’s and that I need to use all tools available to me to educate all those that I can about Parkinson’s and it’s effect on not only those who have Parkinson’s but also those who have love one with Parkinson’s.

I want to thank Jane Ann and Brian from the Parkinson Foundation Heartland for coming out and putting on this event and Audra from work for setting it up. If anyone gets the chance to do “The KCP&L Bernie Beaudoin Moving Experience” I highly recommend it.

Thanks, Stew