An interview with Bill Willard on Advocacy through Facebook, July 23, 2023 by George Ackerman, Ph.D, J.D.
Please tell me a little about your background.
Almost 12 years ago my wife Laurie was diagnosed by a neurologist and a movement disorder specialist here in Texas.
As soon as we learned of her diagnosis, I began searching for all the information that was available on the net, and I started A Parkinson’s site named “Parkinson’s People Family & Friends Support Group on Facebook.
Can you tell me more about Parkinson’s People Family & Friends Support Group on Facebook
Parkinson’s is so multi-faceted as it is different for everyone, yet the same.
This Group pertains to everyone who is dealing with the effects of Parkinson’s Disease as well as their families and friends. It is a Discussion and Study Group, and for the sharing of Information and Personal Trials and Tribulations and Hope of a Cure ~ Mrs. Laurie
What is your passion and how did you get involved in Parkinson’s awareness and hope for a cure?
I am just a husband who loves his Parkinson’s wife and is doing all I can to help her and others through the site I run with the help of some very special people who are administrators who feel the very same. Facebook is my way to get the information out as well as receive it. My availability is daily, as are my posts on the site.
I have had many conversations with those who had been also diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and I have closely watched over my wife as her main caregiver up until last year when I had to cut back my time in helping with her care due to my health problems which are heart and joint related.
We now have a live-in caregiver that helps me with Laurie, which has been working very well. My advocacy is out of love and caring and being right in the midst of this dreadful disease that many still have no idea of the struggles those with Parkinson’s endure.
What type of goals do individuals with Parkinson’s have when posting on Parkinson’s People Family & Friends Support Group on Facebook?
I began the site to help others in awareness and to dedicate myself to another passion outside of my studies and teaching in the martial arts as I have been doing for very many years.
Goals are awareness, enlightenment, and reality of the disease and its effects on families and friends who are part of a Parkinson’s life, and how to deal with what it is, and its progression as well as what is ahead for them.
How does this also assist the caregivers?
It is a place for support and community discussions on Parkinson’s disease as well as sharing information.
How can someone get in touch? What is your website?
Parkinson’s People Family & Friends Support Group on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1204260879587648
If you had one final statement or quote you could leave for the Parkinson’s community, what would it be?
We have many organizations working to find a cure, I only wish they would pool together as one and get it done. It takes courage and spirit to be a Parkinson’s and to keep fighting, and my wife has been without any Parkinson’s medications all these years, as every time she started on some, she always had an adverse reaction to them. So, she chose to go without.
Hope is still strong, and prayers are even stronger. Blessings, Bill