Sherri Woodbridge shed a very positive light on the world of living with Parkinson's. I really enjoyed doing my case study project on her because all of her blog posts gave others dealing with this disease a sense of hope. Sherri does not center her life around her diagnosis, but instead finds ways to cope with her symptoms and continuing living her life as she did before her diagnosis. I did notice that Sherri never mentioned receiving occupational therapy, and I think she could greatly benefit from some OT interventions. Instead of taking countless medications a day to deal with symptoms, an OT could teach her ways to strengthen her hands or even provide her with adaptive equipment to help her type more efficiently. I think that Sherri sets a great example for others coping with this diagnosis. It is important to maintain a positive outlook and not let your diagnosis define you. For more information about her story, visit Sherri's blog at http:// parkinsonsjourney.com/.
Pat Summitt is well-known for being an exceptional basketball coach for the Lady Vols at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, as well as being a coach for the women's USA olympic team. In 2010, Pat began showing subtle signs of dementia, but she ignored the signs for another year. In 2011, she was diagnosed at age 59 with early-onset dementia. She went to Mayo Clinic when she began experiencing symptoms including showing up to a game while leaving her car running and calling the wrong terms during the game. She also reported signs such as feeling disoriented when waking up in the morning. She reported that numbers were especially difficult to understand and deal with at this point. After her diagnosis, Pat was determined to continue coaching at UTK; however, after about a year she was encouraged to retire from her position as head coach. She then started the Pat Summitt Foundation to raise money and awareness for research about early-onset dementia. During the middle stages of de...
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