I want you to meet my friend Carmen. Carmen has Parkinson’s. But that doesn’t define her. Carmen is a wife, mother, daughter and sister. She is passionate about flowers and is a Master Gardener. She was born in Germany in the little town of Sinshein. After she finished high school, she came to the US to visit a friend who had been an exchange student in Germany with Carmen’s family. She ended up falling in love with her friend’s brother, Willie. Carmen and Willie have been married for 35 years. They have 2 daughters and 2 sons.
Carmen first noticed a little twitch in her thigh and later a little twitch in her hand. Since she had recently had surgery on her foot she assumed that it was somehow related. But it did not go away. She went to several different doctors, but no one recognized it as Parkinson’s. They finally diagnosed her in 2012, but she was in denial for another 3 years before she was able to accept the fact that she had Parkinson’s Disease. She was only 48. Once she accepted it, she joined several support groups and signed up to be part of a study to see if exercise helps. It does.
Parkinson’s causes the cells that make dopamine to die off. Dopamine helps regulate how your body moves and so the lack of it causes twitching. Exercising helps relieve some of the stiffness and pain in her hips and back. The most effective exercise for this is riding a stationery bike.
Carmen’s husband Willie has been an avid cyclist for over 20 years. He has ridden in the Copper Triangle in Colorado to raise money for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s for the last several years. In 2019 Willie was in a terrible bike accident that now prevents him from biking outside any more. Because of our friendship with Willie and Carmen, Bruce chose to support the Davis Phinney Foundation in his ride across the country. Willie rides every day on his stationery bike in solidarity with Bruce.
