MY MOM AND DAD

Both of my parents died from complications of Parkinson’s disease, a neurological disorder with a myriad of symptoms.

My parents’ struggles made a deep impression on me, as you can imagine, and led me to found an organization to give handmade quilts to people with Parkinson’s disease, the Parkinson’s Comfort Quilt Project.

In The Road Unsalted, Ted Owens is caught in a situation that’s all-too-familiar to many Americans, taking care of his aging father, Robert, and his twelve-year old niece, Suzanna. Robert has Parkinson’s disease, and his feelings about being in an assisted living facility as well as the vagaries of the disease are based on my experience with my parents.