No Borders Within People

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Amy Rosenthal is motivated by her grandchildren, her husband and by Debbie Shapiro’s drive to help other people. When I met with Amy last week to talk about her relationship to Tikvah for Parkinson as well as about her outlook on life, hope and inspirations, she wore red glasses, a big smile and a willingness to discuss her optimism and her struggles. 

Amy is used to change. A California native, Amy and her husband Bruce made Aliyah to Israel about thirty five years ago and have lived in Jerusalem for the rest of her 71 years of life. Sixteen years ago, her husband Bruce was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. 

At first he was able to continue normal life with the help of meditation. Amy describes herself as an optimistic person, but she says she never felt optimistic about Parkinson’s disease: “I hope for things to get stable, not for them to get better but for the disease not to get worse.”

The first time Amy attended a Tikvah for Parkinson meeting four years ago, she thought that the focus was entirely wrong for what she needed. The meeting discussed how to help your parents, and as a wife of a Parkinson fighter she felt out of place. The friend she attended the meeting with left,  but she remained and met Debbie Shapiro. Since then, Amy tries to support her family by attending as many meetings as possible, and to help Tikvah for Parkinson with fundraising. Meanwhile, Bruce began attending Tikvah for Parkinson’s Wellness Program three times per week, for a total of  nine hours. After the Center had to close as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, classes were offered on zoom. Today, Bruce exercises with Tikvah Online for one hour a day and joins online speech therapy groups twice a week.  According to Amy, there is a big difference between the  online classes and working in person with a Parkinson therapist, but it is still much better than nothing.

Amy describes her experiences with big hand gestures, painting figures in the air. When I asked her about a memory of her experience with Tikvah for Parkinson she responded: “I don’t know about a memory, but I can try to describe this picture in my head…”

The picture is of a Jewish secular woman, herself, being approached by a tiny religious woman who wears a headpiece and modern clothing. Even though most of Tikvah for Parkinson’s participants follow Orthodox Judaism, she has always felt included within the community. Case in point, when the woman introduced herself to Amy while she was waiting for her husband. She told Amy: Your husband is a fighter, I have watched him in class and no matter how hard it gets for him, he always picks himself up. Amy was awestruck by the woman’s insight that revealed aside from her husband that she rarely got to see at home.

Amy feels like that meeting of laughing and talking with that lady, that she otherwise would not get to meet due to the separation between religious and secular people within the Israeli society, was an out of body experience. In her own words, in Tikvah for Parkinson “there are no borders within people.”

I hope Debbie and I can keep introducing you to the wonderful members of the Tikvah for Parkinson community. 

You can check a portion of my conversation with Amy on the link down below. 

Until next time,

Jenni.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13QwdIE8-TTyLkGjzwv9oMO_PcXGdViWv/view?usp=sharing

Comments

  1. VictoriaSeptember 14, 2021 at 1:43 PM

    My dad was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease at 57.his symptoms were shuffling of feet,slurred speech, low volume speech, degradation of hand writing, horrible driving skills, right arm held at 45 degree angle, but now he finally free from the disease with the help of total cure from ULTIMATE LIFE CLINIC, he now walks properly and all symptoms has reversed, he had trouble with balance especially at night, getting into the shower and exiting it is difficult,getting into bed is also another thing he finds impossible.we had to find a better solution for his condition which has really helped him a lot,the biggest helped we had was ultimate life clinic they walked us through the proper steps,am highly recommended this www.ultimatelifeclinic.com to anyone who needs help.

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