Daughter of famed Ali helps kids understand Parkinson's

By Christina Cepero
Originally posted on May 05, 2007
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs....0102/705050304

Christina Cepero/news-press.com
Rasheda Ali, famous boxer Muhammad Ali's daughter, talks to fourth-graders at Spring Creek Elementary about Parkinson’s disease.

One of the seven daughters of three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali recently visited Spring Creek Elementary in Bonita Springs.

Rasheda Ali, writer of "I'll Hold Your Hand So You Won't Fall: A Child's Guide to Parkinson's Disease," talked to fourth- and fifth-graders April 25 about the disease that affects her 65-year-old father.

Her visit was part of a sensitivity awareness program involving aging sponsored by Lee Memorial Health System.

"Any time that we can raise someone's awareness to something, it's enlightening and it promotes understanding," Principal Karen Leonardi said.

Pam Derhammer of the Parkinson Association of Southwest Florida read Ali's book to the children Monday at the school's Roaring Readers family reading time.

Ali said she researched, wrote the book, and began speaking to children around the world because she realized she didn't know how to explain Parkinson's disease to her children, now 6 and 8.

"They had questions I couldn't answer," she said.

She said that because of her father's difficulty talking and writing, the family started to communicate by coloring and drawing together.

"I think we grew closer as a family," Ali said.

"The more you communicate, the more you learn about this condition, the more you understand your loved ones better.

"We're in this together."

She described the four signs: tremors, rigidity, imbalance and Bradykinesia, which means one has a shuffle walk.

She asked fourth-grader Shianne Silvey to pretend she had cement blocks stuck to her shoes to demonstrate a shuffle walk.

"It's hard to pick your feet up," Ali said.

She explained that the dopamine chemical works as a messenger from the brain to the limbs.

She asked fourth-graders Eric Lopez and Kellie Torocco to pretend to be dopamine and the brain, respectively.

She pretended to be a leg.

She moved when Eric, or the dopamine, asked Kellie, or the brain, to move the leg.

Then she asked Eric to sit down.

"When you have Parkinson's, the dopamine is not there to tell the brain to move," she said.

Ali said 1.5 million people in the United States and 6.5 million worldwide have Parkinson's.

On PowerPoint, she showed pictures of her dad, actor Michael J. Fox, the late Pope John Paul II, singer Maurice White of "Earth, Wind and Fire," the late country singer Johnny Cash, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, the 33rd President Harry Truman and evangelist Billy Graham.

"They don't really have anything in common except for being famous and having Parkinson's," Ali said.

She said anyone can get it at any age, but Parkinson's symptoms worsen as a person ages.

She wore a pin with a red tulip, the international symbol for Parkinson's disease awareness and support.

"The more we know about Parkinson's, the more money and research we'll get and the faster we can find a cure for Parkinson's," Ali said.

Ali spoke about her father's positive attitude in boxing and in life.

"He believed in his heart he was going to win and he would actually win," Ali said.

"'You got to believe it, feel it."

After he found out he had Parkinson's at age 42, he came to accept it and said his life was just beginning, Ali said.

"He has not one regret."

"He said, 'I got Parkinson's for a reason.' "

Ali added that her father thinks boxing introduced him to the world but Parkinson's has allowed him to change people's lives.