Community Spotlight: Parkinson's Support Group

Patty Simpson, who lives in Las Cruces during the fall and winter seasons, said she first noticed something wasn't right with her husband, Phil, two years ago, when he took much longer than usual to finish his dinner at a restaurant.

"That's a symptom of Parkinson's — bradykinesia, 'brady' means slow, slow movement — slow eating," Simpson said. "Then he started to have a tremor on one side of his body, just his right side, so we looked up tremor in 'The Merck Manual' (a medical textbook) and that's how we got a clue that it could be Parkinson's."

After a visit to the doctor and getting a second opinion, it was confirmed that Simpson's husband, now 80, had Parkinson's disease, a chronic progressive movement disorder.

Looking for support in coping, Simpson and her husband joined the Parkinson's Disease Support Group of Southern New Mexico, which meets at 10 a.m. the third Tuesday of every month at the Senior Circle Center, 3948 E. Lohman Ave.

"The networking is superb at these meetings," Simpson said. "Otherwise, people just go it alone and they think they're the only one in the world."

The nonprofit was formed in 2009 and is made up of about 50 members, including caregivers and people living with Parkinson's, according to the PDSGSNM website and board member Wes Wilson.

The support group meetings regularly include a social hour, giving people a chance to get to know others living with the disease, a guest speaker, or informational hour, followed by questions and member introductions.

"People, at first, hesitate about coming to a support group like this for a variety of reasons," Wilson said. "Partially, it's just they're newly diagnosed and they don't know how to react to having Parkinson's, and what we have all found as we've come here is the first information we get is that we're not alone in this."

Wilson, 76, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2009, said symptoms of the disease are different for each person, which can make it difficult for doctors to diagnose and recognize the onset of the disease.

"My first symptoms were I couldn't count money," he said. "Couldn't handle paper between my fingers. The way you'd know that that was a symptom is when you start taking the medication for Parkinson's. Those symptoms go away and you're able to do those things again."

Looking back after his diagnosis, Wilson said he realizes now that he was starting to show symptoms of Parkinson's in 2005.

Another symptom experienced by many people with the disease is the Parkinson's mask, which can cause a person to lose their ability to form facial expressions, such as smiling, Simpson said.

"It used to be when people were talking to my husband and me, they would look from person to person, but now, they get no feedback from him because of the Parkinson's mask," she said. "So, even when it's about things he's an expert in, they're talking more to me; I've noticed that a lot."

Other possible signs of Parkinson's include stiffness and inflexibility of the limbs, lack of balance when standing, hesitation before stepping forward and progressively shrinking  handwriting, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

While Parkinson's becomes more common with old age, about 4 percent of people with Parkinson's are diagnosed before they turn 50, according to PDF.

"If you look around (at these meetings) you're going to see people of various age groups," said Jon Roberts, a Parkinson's Disease Support Group of Southern New Mexico board member. "It's not an old person's disease like once believed 20, 30 years ago."

According to PDF, about one million people in the U.S. live with Parkinson's. Some of the well-known faces of the disease include boxing champion Muhammad Ali, "Back to the Future" star Michael J. Fox and the late country singer/songwriter Johnny Cash.

Wilson said he encourages caregivers and people living with Parkinson's in Las Cruces and the surrounding areas to come to the Las Cruces meetings to talk with others and learn how to get the best life they can out of their situation.

"We think, of course we don't know because there's no list, but we think we're serving about 10  percent of the community that has Parkinson's, and we want to get the word out that we're here," he said.

The support group is hosting a raffle, now through April 30, for a quilt made by Sally Morge, a member of the Mesilla Valley Iris Society, in cooperation with Las Cruces quilting bee Stitch at a Time. Raffle tickets are $5 for one ticket or $20 for five. The quilt can be viewed at the monthly support group meetings. The group is in search of more locations to display the quilt. For more information about the raffle, providing a location to display the quilt or the support  group, call Sarah Stegall at 575-496-2550, Jon Roberts at 702-217-0450 or visit pdsgsnm.org. Donations to Parkinson's Disease Support Group of Southern New Mexico can be sent to 3658 Malachite Street, Las Cruces, NM 88012.

Alexia Severson is a features reporter and may be reached at 575-541-5462 and aseverson@lcsun-news.com. Follow her @AlexiaMSeverson on Twitter. 

If you go

What: Parkinson's Disease Support Group of Southern New Mexico meetings

When: Every third Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m.; social hour begins at 9 a.m.; questions and member introductions at 11 a.m.

Where: MountainView Senior Circle Center, 3948 E. Lohman Ave.

Info: Call Sarah Stegall at 575-496-2550, Jon Roberts at 702-217-0450 or visit pdsgsnm.org.