Star's recovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients

KUSA - It was something Katie Strittmatter had done an untold number of times in her life: swallow her food and beverages. But on Memorial Day Weekend in 2010, all of a sudden, she couldn't do it anymore.

"I had a neckache, and I just stopped swallowing. I couldn't swallow food or water," she said.

Only 31 years old at the time, Strittmatter never thought the reason she couldn't control that function was because she had Parkinson's Disease. She was shocked at the news, and the way it was delivered.

"I was alone when I was diagnosed," the mom-of-two who is now 34 years old said. "They hand you a prescription, and you're out."

Strittmatter says, after telling her husband about the diagnosis over the phone, she didn't talk about her disease for a year. Thousands of people, though, can understand her story.

"About 17,000 Coloradans are living with Parkinson's right now," Cheryl Siefert, Executive Director of Parkinson Association of the Rockies, said.

The disease causes the brain to send incorrect messages to other parts of the body, causing muscles to either resist movement or move outside of a person's control. Strittmatter experiences everything from not being able to get debit cards out of her wallet to debilitating pain and fatigue that keep her from even walking to her own bathroom.

Siefert says, though, people diagnosed with Parkinson's in recent years can have a higher quality of life, due to medical advancements, research, medication, support group and activities.

"Study after study after study shows that individuals with Parkinson's who remain active and exercise ... it slows down the progression of their symptoms," Siefert said.

Siefert points to one very well-known person who she says is an example of that point.

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Star's recovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients