Parkinson's Disease Society Of The United Kingdom

marie barker

Marie Barker

Marie Barker

My Story

My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was 56 years after finally getting his head around it and finding the right combination of drugs he lived quite happily with Parkinson’s for a lot of years without most people even knowing he had it thanks to Apomorphine amongst others medications he was prescribed.
It’s was not until the last 5 years he started to slowly deteriorate the greatest deterioration being in the last 18 months. My mum then became his 24/7 carer helped by myself and my sister as much as we could. We faced lots of issues together in those last 18 months of his life -he had frequent urine infections, many falls, decreased mobility, awful hallucinations, confusion, swallowing problems, joint, neck & back pain, deteriorating speech, he lost lots of weight because his appetite decreased as his swallowing became more of an issue. He suffered with insomnia which impacted on my mums health too as he kept her awake most nights( while he napped during the day she’d be doing the daily chores etc)
I encouraged them to move to the village where I lived, into assisted living accommodation-where I could also be on hand to help more readily.
Unfortunately after only being in their new bungalow for 3 months dad developed a urine infection which didn’t clear up with antibiotics as they usually did, he then developed pneumonia too and was taken into hospital. Because of covid rules I was unable to visit him in hospital, my mum was allowed in for 1 hour a day😞 it was torture hearing how he was continuing to deteriorate and feeling helpless at home, Even after all the medical intervention he deteriorated so rapidly and got sepsis. Finally I was allowed in once they knew he wasn’t responding to any treatment and he was nearing the end of his life. We were able to be with him in hospital for the last 6 days of his life -sitting vigil by his bed side… those were the hardest 6 days of my life -but I would 100% do it all over again to be by my dads side in the last days of his life, cooling his brow with a flannel, moistening his mouth, chatting about our family life, holding his hand and making sure the nurses kept him comfortable and pain free.
I would give anything to help others going through similar- even better to help find a cure for this evil disease and stop other families having to go through what we’ve been through.

121%

Funded

  • Target
    £2,100
  • Raised so far
    £2,534
  • Number of donors
    76

My Story

My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was 56 years after finally getting his head around it and finding the right combination of drugs he lived quite happily with Parkinson’s for a lot of years without most people even knowing he had it thanks to Apomorphine amongst others medications he was prescribed.
It’s was not until the last 5 years he started to slowly deteriorate the greatest deterioration being in the last 18 months. My mum then became his 24/7 carer helped by myself and my sister as much as we could. We faced lots of issues together in those last 18 months of his life -he had frequent urine infections, many falls, decreased mobility, awful hallucinations, confusion, swallowing problems, joint, neck & back pain, deteriorating speech, he lost lots of weight because his appetite decreased as his swallowing became more of an issue. He suffered with insomnia which impacted on my mums health too as he kept her awake most nights( while he napped during the day she’d be doing the daily chores etc)
I encouraged them to move to the village where I lived, into assisted living accommodation-where I could also be on hand to help more readily.
Unfortunately after only being in their new bungalow for 3 months dad developed a urine infection which didn’t clear up with antibiotics as they usually did, he then developed pneumonia too and was taken into hospital. Because of covid rules I was unable to visit him in hospital, my mum was allowed in for 1 hour a day😞 it was torture hearing how he was continuing to deteriorate and feeling helpless at home, Even after all the medical intervention he deteriorated so rapidly and got sepsis. Finally I was allowed in once they knew he wasn’t responding to any treatment and he was nearing the end of his life. We were able to be with him in hospital for the last 6 days of his life -sitting vigil by his bed side… those were the hardest 6 days of my life -but I would 100% do it all over again to be by my dads side in the last days of his life, cooling his brow with a flannel, moistening his mouth, chatting about our family life, holding his hand and making sure the nurses kept him comfortable and pain free.
I would give anything to help others going through similar- even better to help find a cure for this evil disease and stop other families having to go through what we’ve been through.