Mason: Support network keeps Parkinson ‘s patient grounded

COMMUNITY TREASURES BY LUANN MASON

Friends help us cope when challenging times invade our lives. That's why Mary Come has Wally, Willy, Parker and Arthur.

Their uniqueness sets them apart from anyone or anything else and they cannot be duplicated, according to Come. Yet no matter how much they dominant her days, and oftentimes nights for that matter, Wally, Willy, Parker and Arthur will never surpass the help and support she said she has from her husband, Joe. They met on a blind date and have remained together for 46 years.

"I have a great support system," the 64-year-old Shelby County native said. "It starts with Joe. He makes me keep busy."

Statistically, as many at 1 million Americans live with Parkinson's disease, which the Parkinson's Disease Foundation reports is more than the combined number of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and Lou Gehrig's disease.

In addition, foundation statistics show that about 60,000 American's are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year. That, however, does not reflect the thousands of cases that go undetected.

Parkinson's involves a breakdown of nerve cells in the brain, although, scientists are unsure why this breakdown occurs.

Come was diagnosed in the fall of 2000.

"I had always been healthy," she said, adding there was no family history of Parkinson's. "I felt like I was getting a cold, but my arm kept getting weaker and weaker. My mother had a stroke, so I thought that's what was happening to me."

After "lots" of medical testing, Come said she was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's, and started taking medications. After years of medication adjustments she said she is able to comfortably live with the disease, a disease that typically associates itself with elderly men.

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Mason: Support network keeps Parkinson 's patient grounded