SPRINGFIELD, GA, July 12, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- For twelve seasons, Brian Grant prowled the courts of the NBA, battling the league¡¦s best centers. Now, after being diagnosed with young onset Parkinson¡¦s disease, Grant is battling a different opponent.
Mr. Grant recently revealed his diagnosis to the world, becoming one of the fewer than 20% of all patients to be diagnosed before the age of fifty. Kay Mixson Jenkins, author of the children¡¦s book Who is Pee Dee? Explaining Parkinson¡¦s Disease to a Child, is also a young onset patient.
¡§It¡¦s not easy being told that you have a degenerative disease that has no cure,¡¨ says Ms. Jenkins, whose book teaches children about Parkinson¡¦s disease through the story of Colt, a young boy whose toy panda bear teaches him how to cope with the symptoms that are affecting Colt¡¦s mother.
Ms. Jenkins¡¦s, founder of the non-profit Parkinson¡¦s in the Park, was diagnosed with the disease when she was just thirty-four. She wroteWho Is Pee Dee? for kids who may be asking ¡§What is Parkinson¡¦s Disease?¡¨ or ¡§What are Parkinson¡¦s disease symptoms?¡¨
¡§It¡¦s really important that people look at role models such as Brian Grant and see that this disease is affecting people of all ages, races and fitness levels,¡¨ says Ms. Jenkins. ¡§We need as much funding and awareness as possible.
Mr. Grant and Ms. Jenkins are part of the demographic addressed in Who Is Pee Dee?; a demographic that can find support through some of the organizations highlighted in Ms. Jenkins¡¦s book, including:
„FThe National Parkinson Foundation: http://www.parkinson.org.
„FFocus on a Cure: http://www.focusonacure.org.
„FThe Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson¡¦s Research: http://www.michaeljfox.org.
For more information, contact the author directly via kmj@ParkinsonsInThePark.org.
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