"Bearers, Sharers and Carers" was the name given to a new walking group, to speak literally to living with, or beside, Parkinson's Disease.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"We share a laugh, we share tears, and we walk," said Jon O'Neill, who created the group with wife and carer Joan earlier this year.
The Bethanga couple meet up to 20 people at Sumsion Gardens every Monday and Wednesday to walk, and will return there on Sunday to join the Wodonga version of A Walk in the Park for Parkinson's.
Related:
They hope to recruit others to Bearers, Sharers and Carers, and share their story.
After first experiencing symptoms while lecturing at Charles Sturt University, Dr O'Neill approached his doctor in the first half of 2016.
"I went through a drawn-out diagnosis - they thought I had an essential tremor and none of the medications they tried actually achieved anything," he said.
"Twelve months later, they decided it might be something else and sent me to a neurologist.
"I wasn't speaking clearly - I couldn't have had this conversation at that stage - and that led him towards frontotemporal dementia.
"When the medications did not do anything at all for me, the neurologist took me in for a couple of tests, made me walk down the corridor and back and he said 'Jon, you have got Parkinson's'.
"I asked 'How do you know? You've been through all these things', and he said 'You're not swinging your right arm and that's one of the triggering motor symptoms'."
After seeing a movement specialist in Melbourne and working with the Albury Wodonga Health's allied health team, management of Dr O'Neill's symptoms improved vastly.
After participating in a number of exercise sessions with the health service, the O'Neills decided to create a walking group to be an adjunct of of the Parkinson's North East Support Group.
"There are 110,00 Australians now living with Parkinson's and there's about 40 people everyday who are diagnosed," Dr O'Neill said.
"It's something which is manageable - it's not a death knell - so long as you make the choice you're going to live with it.
"Exercise is the only disease-modifying treatment."
The Walk for Parkinson's on Sunday will be the ninth event on the Border.
"Last year, they had 100 turn up to participate in the walk and made $1000," Dr O'Neill said.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"This year, we have a lady coming who is the acting chief operating officer of Parkinson's Victoria, so it will be an opportunity to speak to her."
Mrs O'Neill said it was important people had access to specialists who could identify the early signs of the disease.
"Unfortunately there's not enough money to train neurologists to specialise in Parkinson's," she said.
Registrations for a Walk in the Park for Parkinson's opens at 9.30am for a 10am start, near the playground - $5 entry goes towards research and support.