Big Little City Kimberly Schlapman opened up about caring for her mother, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s 24-hour care,” Schlapman, 56, said USA Today in an interview published on Saturday, May 30, about the information he made from his 78-year-old mother. BarbaraThe diagnosis was introduced about 20 years ago.
“When he was diagnosed, we did not understand what his care would mean,” he continued. “We didn’t know enough about the disease to know where we were going.”
Schlapman, who works with her family and hired help to care for Barbara, remembers the day in 2005 when Barbara’s tremors led a doctor to inform her that she might have Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time, according to the report. Mayo Clinic.
“How was I? What? Because no one in our family, as far as we know, has ever had Parkinson’s before,” said Schlapman, before adding that when suspicions arose from the diagnosis, the family did not understand what Barbara’s care would look like.
Feeling the need to be “in many places at once,” Schlapman, who lives with two daughters, Daisy, 18, and Dolly, 9, and husband Stephenhe told the newspaper that he enjoys the responsibility of taking care of his loved ones.
“I love being a mother. I also know what my mother meant to me in my life. Now I get the chance to take care of her. That is very important to me,” said Schlapman. “I also have a job where people rely on me.”
Schlapman, who is also an avid trainer, spoke at length about the need for more people to openly discuss the realities of living with Parkinson’s disease.
Michael J. Fox reflects on living with Parkinson’s disease more than 30 years after his diagnosis. While attending his A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s musical charity gala in Nashville earlier this week, the Back to the Future actor, 62, opened up about his life and that he won’t stop. […]
“There is no shame in this disease,” said Schlapman. “And there are so many of us out there living with it that we need each other and we need to talk about it. And the more we talk about it, the better off our loved ones will be because their care will be better and people will understand more.”
Schlapman also noted that he recently reached out to his mother to make sure she is an active member of Barbara’s support group. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he told the outlet. “We are very involved in his care and his doctors, and there is one of us every time he is there.”
