People to Admire #3
He is always the first one to arrive. Every week. He sits in his car until an appropriate time to come in for LOUD Crowd.
Parkinson’s disease has been his unwelcome companion for years. Among other symptoms, it negatively affects his speech and swallowing as it does for 89% of people with Parkinson’s.
Some problems are relentless…and so are the people dealing with them.
Bill has an encyclopedic grasp on all things baseball. Inevitably, he and I talk stats and history and the latest baseball news. Then, I turn him over to our speech therapist and she leads Bill and others through an hour of effective exercises. We provide 25 of these groups around the state of Oklahoma along with close to 90 other groups related to exercise, therapy, support and education. Bill is not the only one who exercises his tenacity in managing an unideal condition. There are many. And I admire them all.
Of course, no one feels relentless and tenacious and determined all of the time. People also struggle with anger, sadness and just feeling lethargic. With Parkinson’s, people are in short supply of dopamine, the happy chemical that boosts your motivation. Literally, these folks don’t always feel like doing anything. So each time Bill and many like him show up, I know that it didn’t happen on accident. Most likely, they fought through the urge to stay on the couch.
Some problems are relentless…and so are the people dealing with them.
Worth Repeating
You must be passionate, you must dedicate yourself, and you must be relentless in the pursuit of your goals. If you do, you will be successful.
-Steve Garvey
