my story (in English)

안녕하세요?  I’m Jin. I live in Seoul, South Korea.

I've been a homemaker and a happy mother of 2 boys for 25 years.

I was 46 when I realized my left foot was dragging.

In 2007, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease,

But I was NOT ready to accept it.

Until then everything had seemed easy in my life, but suddenly Parkinson’s shook my whole life. I’ve refused any medication for 7 months.

My husband Hyung just respected my decision.

One day Hyung prepared a tricycle for me and a bicycle for him.

We together started riding. He also started me taking medicine again.

He protects me and makes me laugh. He is my Angel, my heavier Angel.

I am a kind of person who believes that at the other end a door will open.

I found that I really wanted to grasp my life more than ever.

While surfing the internet I read a webpage which attracted my interest.

It was about the Parkinson's Disease Foundation’s Quilt Project which was going to be displayed at the World Parkinson Congress in 2010.

This inspired me to get involved, and I felt at once that I had my own purpose in the PD community. The more stitches I put into my quilt piece, the closer I got to my Parkinson’s Disease. I actively changed my perspective on Parkinson’s.

I took my first step into the WPC world with a quilt square, and a video entry which took 2nd place. At the WPC I made many Parkie friends there, and met qualified caregivers, people from medical teams and patient-centered organizations. They even raised a lot of momey enough to manage big research projects by themselves! Awesome.

I think all human beings enjoy intrinsically creative activities.

They might be art, music, literature, or dance.

I love to express myself through photoes, videos and quilt.

By doing something creative you could live a more meaningful life and also endure sufferings like Parkinson’s.

I’d like to appreciate the ‘brain donors’.

They were really the greatest heroes in Parkinson’s community.

Without their contributions neither further researches nor better medical developments achieved. Also I respect their family members who supported their beloved one’s decisions. I will follow them.

Now I’m doing my best in collecting signatures in Korea to advance the cure. More than 16,000 people have signed the pledge. http://www.parkinsonspledge.org/  By signing the pledge, you will be joining a global Parkinson's movement for change. Have YOU signed it? Your support matters! We can make differences. Thank you 감사합니다.