Hi,
I have been a member here for a few months, but have never really introduced myself or shared anything personal. So, here it is.
My name is Rhonda. I will be 47 in Dec. this year. I was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's Disease in 1999 at the age of 35. I have had two deep brain stimulation surgeries since that time, the first in 2004 and the second last year in August. I have 2 pacemakers embedded in my chest, connected to my brain, to help my body move correctly.
I also had a stroke last year in June, while driving. I couldn't walk or talk for almost 4 months. I truly thought that I was going to be stuck in my power wheelchair for the rest of my life.
When I started this journey I weighed 235, an all-time high for me. I now weigh 182 and I started on June 15th of this year. The main reason I am posting this now, and not when I reach my goal of 130-135 is because I ran an entire 3.1 miles today in 36 minutes. 6 minutes of that was walking. (I still can't quite run the entire way). The whole last mile I was crying and running, crying and running. I ran it on the treadmill and there were 4 other young guys running on the treadmills around me. I didn't care if they saw me crying. I couldn't believe my limbs were working for their intended purpose.
In 1999, when I was diagnosed, I was training to run a marathon. I had actually worked my way up to a 20 mile run on a Sunday afternoon. I was in pretty good physical shape. After the diagnosis, I shut down. I was depressed, angry, and so MAD! I thought I was going to die right away. I also have recently figured out that I blamed training for bringing on Parkinson's. (I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's what I truly thought). Somehow I correlated exercise with PD. I therefore swore off all exercise, and sat around and ate to make myself feel better.
When I reach my goal, I will post before and after pictures, and I will also give more details. If anyone has stayed with my story this long, I give you credit. I would just like to say that there is never an excuse big enough to not take care of yourself. There is not a big enough illness to ignore your health. Everyone has it in them to get healthy, it's just how much you really want it.
Thanks for listening.
I just had to tell somebody!
Inspirational story like Bree has said.
