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Meet the PWPs who contributed the Guide for the Newly Diagnosed and Information for Caregivers.
Carey Christensen was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1999 at age 41. She is Washington State Coordinator for the Parkinson's Action Network and serves on the People with Parkinson's Advisory Council for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. Raising awareness of the mental health aspects of PD motivates her advocacy as a writer and speaker. Retired on SSDI after an administrative career at the University of Washington, Carey lives near Seattle with her teenage daughter, Elizabeth, Harvey the Cat, and Truly the Wonder Dog.
Cindy Exton was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1999 at age 42. She has become active in the local Parkinson's Society of Southern Alberta, as a volunteer on various fundraising committees, and was elected to the Board of Directors in 2004. She is a founding member of their Young-Onset Support Group, initiated and developed a Corporate Sponsorship Package, and has written various articles on living with PD that have been published nationally and abroad. Cindy continues to work at raising awareness at a local level, and resides with her two teenage children in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Tom Isaacs is a co-founder of The Cure Parkinson's Trust and Managing Director of its fundraising arm, "Movers and Shakers." Within two years these two organizations have raised and allocated about $2 million toward a cure for Parkinson's. Tom was elected to the Board of the European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA) in 2005. Tom has had PD since he was diagnosed at age 27 in 1995, and he speaks regularly about the condition, promoting hope and raising funds. In 2003, he completed a continuous walk of 4,500 miles around the coastline of Britain, raising $600,000 for research. He was UK Charity Personality of the Year in 2005.
Dan Stark was a lawyer for 27 years before retiring as a Vice President from AT&T in August 2004. He now has become a writer and has chronicled his experience with PD in a series of articles that appeared in the Washington Post. These articles and others have been included in his memoir Silence of the Bunnies: tales of life, love and survival. His memoir is not only a look at life with a degenerative disease, but a look a life itself and the triumph of the human spirit. Visit silenceofthebunnies.com for more information about how you can purchase a copy for yourself or a loved one. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Silence of the Bunnies will be donated to MJFF.
Diagnosed at age 37 in 1995, former children's book editor Ann Wasson left New York City for California in 2000. She and her husband, Greg, have been very active in PD advocacy and awareness, through newspapers, radio and television interviews, and public speaking engagements. They have testified before numerous governmental committees in California in favor of legalizing human embryonic stem cell research and the passage of Proposition 71. Ann is the author of five children's books and the subject of a video made by Northwestern University on living with Parkinson's disease.
Greg Wasson was diagnosed with PD in 1995 at age 43, which forced his retirement from the practice of law in 2000. He has been active in PD advocacy since 1998 and has worked with PAN, PDF, APDA, and the Fox Foundation. In 2002 he received the first Millicent Kondracke Award for Outstanding Advocacy. He and his wife, Ann, were the National Field Representatives for PAN in 2002-2003. They travel and speak frequently on PD issues. In 2003 Greg testified before the US Senate Judiciary Committee as a patient advocate in hearings on the subject of regenerative medicine.
