Living with Parkinson's disease—a child's perspective
BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7353.1562 (Published 29 June 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:1562- Lesley Rees, consultant paediatric nephrologist
- Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London
I was 10 years old when my mother came back from a large London teaching hospital having been given the diagnosis of young onset Parkinson's disease. She was 46 years of age. She had made the diagnosis herself before this appointment. She was first told it by medical students when, during a consultant led teaching session, she had been asked to walk across the front of a lecture theatre to show the characteristic gait. She was humiliated, and I was angry. That was when I decided to become a doctor myself.
Fortunately, young onset Parkinson's disease is not common. Most people are aware of the devastating symptoms—the tremor, the poverty of movement, the falls, …
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