This story is something I can relate to....though from a different angle. PD has a way of changing your life and thinking in a profound way. I have posted it a while back. Here I go again....
I have been in research for almost 15 years, 10+ years prior to my diagnosis with PD. I was committed to research, passionate about my work and believed I was doing my best to help a patient. However, I had no clue about how a patient feels about his/her future nor the for he/she feels for a cure. When faced with questions like "How long before it gets to the market?", it being a drug, therapy, vaccine or a new finding.... The standard answer was "well, research takes time, it has to go through FDA approvals......blah blah...When I look back at my responses, it was essentially telling a patient (AIDS, in this case), forget about a cure, not in your life time. I didnot realize the impact of my statements and how frustrating it can be to a patient.

Being diagnosed with PD, now I am at the receiving end, with every failed phase 2 or 3 clinical trials, precious time is lost. Now I understand the question from a patient or a care partner or a loved one 'when do I get the treatment you just talked about?" There is nothing like this experience, talking and thinking that I understood the impact of a incurable disease and actually experiencing it myself. I feel the impact of sentences (like "AIDS is a complex syndrome and ..........") I wrote in my meeting abstracts, papers I published. I feel the urgency for a cure......When hear the standard answer which I used to give.......I shake my head and bite my tongue.

If anything good came out being diagnosed with PD is that I have become more open to different ideas and accept others beliefs. I learnt that science is not the only answer to cure, there is much more to living with something like PD. I still have faith in scientific research, continue to do so and hope for a cure. At the same time what is considered "alternative therapies" have become as main stream as Mirapex etc., for me. I have come to accept that people have different ways to cope and deal with their illness. There is no right or wrong way to do it.

Thanks for posting the story and listening to my story!!
Girija