I’ve been reading this thread with great interest & sadness. Some of you will remember me and others will not. I was a Caregiver for my husband Kevin for many years. In retrospect, we know that he had Parkinson’s for as long as I knew him - over 25 years. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how one looks at it, he was not diagnosed until 2000. At that time we lived in Chicago and at 52 we knew no one with Parkinson’s. There was no support, no one to talk to. All we had was the internet. We found Brain Talk 2. It was a blessing for us both.

In the beginning Kevin participated personally in the site but over time he relied on me to post for him. When we moved to Texas and found a great support group but most of these folks were much older and few were young enough to be computer savvy. They began to depend on us to share tricks & tips and information we gleaned from you & this site.

When the big crash happened it was dreadful! That is when we realized how important the site and all you folks who post on it are. Fortunately we found this new site with many of you old folks and we also found the new BrainTalk site but it was never as active as this one so over time we just stopped reading it. As with any site, you learn to accept folks and their little quirks, you can “read” the despair or anger at times and you understand because they are frequently discussing things that you yourself have felt. What some of you may not think about is that some folks are way ahead on the path and as things progress they post less & less frequently or they post symptoms and issues that you are not yet experiencing.

This board is so important and probably more important than any of us will ever know. If we live in big cities or heavily populated areas we have access to so much support but I will never forget all those folks & those caregivers suffering with this disease in rural areas or living small trailers with just a cat somewhere all alone (i.e.Fred – Taxi). All they have is the internet.

There is an ebb and flow to the board but the sharing of information, feelings and friendship is vital. Those on the board who are tech savvy and aggressive about discussing issues should never forget that there are countless folks who are part of this board and read it faithfully but never post…..

I think this will be my last post. Since Kevin died last year, I find it too painful to read the board and see how some of you old friends are progressing. This board has a profound effect and is vital to Parkie and caregivers alike! I thank God that we had you all and this board. I can’t imagine surviving the journey without you.