Living with Parkinson's

Living with Parkinson's

UPDATE: OKEMOS - It's estimated that some 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease every year, not including the thousands of other cases that still go undetected.

It's been 13 years since Okemos resident Peter Hasbrook and his wife Barb first learned of his diagnosis.

"A lot of people will tell you it takes over your life and we don't want it to do that," Peter said.

For Peter, who has always been heavily involved in his community, he said one of the biggest challenges is finding the right balance and recognizing he can't do everything he once could.

"You begin to recognize you're doing too many things and you're exhausted by the end of the day for a lot of other reasons, and you decide that you just have to back out of some things," he said.

And for Peter's wife Barb, researching Parkinson's and keeping up with all of Peter's medications has become a full time job.

"There are so many things that happen to a Parkinson's patient, that is not a Parkinson's symptom or problem," she said.

"So trying to balance all that, learn all those medications and add one drug at a time so you can get some idea of what the reaction is and what it's negating or something."

ORIGINAL STORY: OKEMOS - It's estimated that some 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease every year, not including the thousands of other cases that still go undetected.

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