Hi, I’m Landon.
I’ve been living with Parkinson’s disease since 2014, when I was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s at 44 years old.
The Parkinson’s I live with today isn’t the same Parkinson’s I was diagnosed with more than 12 years ago. The disease has changed. My life has changed. And in a lot of ways, I have changed too.
Why I’m Doing This
One thing I wish I had when I was first diagnosed was somebody who could help me understand what living with Parkinson’s might actually feel like.
Not somebody replacing my doctors. Not somebody claiming to have all the answers. Just somebody who had already walked a little farther down the road and could say, “Here’s what happened to me. Here’s what helped. Here’s what surprised me. Here’s what I wish I had known.”
I can’t go back and give myself the mentor I wish I’d had when I was diagnosed. But maybe I can be one of the voices that helps someone walking that road today.
Parkinson’s Has Changed My Life
Before Parkinson’s, my attention was focused on a career, family, plans and all the things I expected life to hold.
Today, Parkinson’s requires thought almost every day and often throughout the day. It affects movement, medication, food, energy, communication, planning, independence and sometimes simply deciding whether I can do what I intended to do.
There is a phrase people sometimes use: “Parkinson’s doesn’t define me.” I understand the intention behind it, but my experience is more complicated than that.
Parkinson’s has shaped almost every part of my life. At times I’ve even thought, It has become me, or I have become it.
But it is still not the whole of who I am.
I’m Not the Expert on Parkinson’s
I’m not a doctor, researcher or medical authority.
What I do have is more than 12 years of experience living inside this disease.
That experience doesn’t tell me what will happen to you. It doesn’t make my treatment decisions right for somebody else. And it certainly doesn’t replace a medical team.
But it does mean I can tell you honestly what something felt like from my side.
I’m not the expert on Parkinson’s. I’m the expert on me.
The Good and the Bad
I don’t want this site to become a collection of success stories that make Parkinson’s look easier than it is.
Some things have helped me. Some things have disappointed me. Some treatments came with tradeoffs. Sometimes I made decisions that worked, and sometimes I learned through frustration, mistakes or simply living through something long enough to understand it differently.
I want to share both sides.
Because sometimes knowing that something worked for another person is helpful.
And sometimes knowing that somebody else struggled with it is just as helpful.
Why You Can Trust What You Read Here
I’m not doing this to sell you a cure, convince you to choose a particular treatment, or build a medical authority around my name.
I’m not selling you an answer. I’m sharing my experience. If something I’ve been through helps you understand something you’re going through, that’s enough for me.
My goal is to be honest about what happened to me, careful about the difference between my experience and medical fact, and willing to correct something when I learn that I got it wrong.
I’ve already lived these experiences.
If something I learned along the way can make somebody else’s road a little easier, then I want to share it.
That’s PD Through My Eyes.