Young Onset Parkie in the News

The NY Times just wrote about Billy Kennedy, basketball coach for Texas A&M.  The article begins with Billy learning he has Young Onset Parkinson’s, then describes his initial foray into the dark world of the Parkinson Closet, and his subsequent successes coming out to everyone and building up a terrific basketball team.

Article excerpts:

Parkinson’s affects those who have it differently, and Kennedy said his case was caught early enough that he did not require medication to help control his tremors for nearly a year. Today his regimen combines drugs with diet and exercise that has left Kennedy “a good 20 pounds lighter” than he was when the senior guard Alex Caruso first arrived on campus, Caruso said.

Before his diagnosis, Kennedy was a “McDonald’s-three-times-a-week guy,” his wife, Mary, said. But he has changed his intake considerably in the past several years. He avoids processed and fried foods and drinks green smoothies through which he consumes “a pound of spinach every day,” Mary said.

And:

When rival programs did not hesitate to use Kennedy’s Parkinson’s diagnosis against him in recruiting [new basketball players], he employed an unconventional strategy to win over players: He challenged them to games.

“I would play them in games of one-on-one so they would know for sure I had the energy to coach,” he said.

And most important to me:

“I’m a much better coach today for going through this,” he said of his illness. “I know how to delegate. I’m more organized. I’m healthier physically, mentally and spiritually.

“When you go through something like I have and are able to get back on your feet, then you feel a little bit sharper and a little bit more sensitive to the players when they make mistakes.

“I can relate if they miss two free throws to lose a game because, hey, there are a lot worse things you can live through.”

That’s it in a nutshell, isn’t it?  What matters is not that you have Parkinson’s disease.  What matters is how you can use it to make yourself healthier, both physically and mentally.

Discuss.