Vulnerability

I know we all hear this word and think of Brene Brown’s TED Talk, but for me, vulnerability is what helped conceive this blog. I wanted to tell my story for years, but it always came back to one question: “What would people think?” There’s so much uncertainty in it, and it’s fucking scary.

In the end, two things ultimately pushed me forward. The first was my desire to share my story and help others feel less alone and scared. As a young woman and mother, I felt so alone in my diagnosis. There was no one who could relate to my experience, and even my doctors didn’t know if I should try to conceive another child. The last 10 years of my life were a lot of trial and error, intuition, and learning a boatload of medical information. To that end, I would love to be a voice of comfort and community for others going through this.

The second thing that pushed me was my sister and best friend.  My sister does it all—she’s a mom of three, a therapist, a writer, an activist, and a million other things. She has always pushed me to be the most confident version of myself. This past weekend, she came to me with the idea for a podcast on living with young onset that we could do together. I recently decided to undergo DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery), and we thought it was a great way to share that journey with others who might be considering it. As we started talking, we both came up with some great ideas for other topics to cover, such as getting pregnant with PD, living with little kids, a healthy lifestyle, and my journey with doctors and medications. We would love to cover a wide range of topics that younger PD patients deal with. We can't wait to share it all with you. Stay tuned!