Alicia, but it doesn't mean the end of your life, or your love of life. It can mean the end of some friendships or uncaring spouses, but with a caring daughter like you, your mom has a lot of good life to look forward to. Since she is already diagnosed, there is little chace taht she can get long term care insurance, DAMN!!! If only people could have made it to our doorstep BEFORE a doctor said anything about PD, then she would have had a shot at long term care insurance, which most of us eventually need. PD can be expensive, because to be properly medicated to get the most good out of ones' time with PD takes a lot of experimentation with expensive drugs. Get her on Sinemet right away, she will have a number of years of what we call the "honeymoon" before worse symptoms set in .If all goes well, she will even at times forget that she has PD. The good news is that with a change of administration, we should see a ramping up of stem cell research, and I have never been more hopeful than right now. Many of us have lived with PD during the research "hold" of the Bush years,that was a very disheartening and frustrating time for us as far as a "cure" was concerned. Hopefully President Obama will allow federal funds to be used for stem cell research and thus attract some of the finest researchers to the field. Personally, I am convinced that once they have found the "right" type of stem cell, one that behaves and does what it's supposed to do, millions of people now suffering from PD will be liberated to a great extent from the ravages of PD, and we will for the most part, get up and walk confidently through life again, a "reawakening" of a more permanent nature than that experienced upon the discovery of L-Dopa. I hope that this brings the hope to you that you seek. One more thing, because there is so much more hope with each coming day, do not allow your mom to "wallow" in self-pity like so many of us did, when we believed that a DX of PD meant the end of our lives. Take a positive stance and you wil avoid losing so many of the things that so many of us lost by having a scared, negative attitude towards their DX. Good luck to you both, and may your God lift up your hearts. cs