PAGE 14, WHfl'BY FREE PRES, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1990) Imagne is a national campaign of The Canachan Centre for PhilanthrOPY to increase SCanadians' awareness and contribution to ail charitable and volunteer* organizations. We support their goals and are contributrng space for the Imagine ad on this and other pages. To brmng the campaign doser to home, the Whitby Free Press is runninga series of profiles of e i the needs and -activities of local organizations. Cail us if your organization could use a boost. Foun dation promotes awareness of Parkinson' s disease Bv Trudie Zavadovics Statxstics show there are more ruj than 100,000 peo le witb Parkin-TH son's Disease in Mnada. Witby resident Pauline Toenjes is one P M N O of them. Uncharacteristically, FOUNDATION she developed Parkinson's dis-- Durlhani Region Chapter ease when she was 35. She bas lived with it for the past 20 years.Loain MetnsaS. Toenjes notes that in Biblical Lcaon MetnstS. times, Parkinson's disease was Mark's United Church referred te as 'the shaking palsy.'p House, 200 Byron St. S., It is a neurolog*ical Risease Whitby that usually doesn'tsurface until age 60 or over. Ini many cases it Purpose: Support group of is bard te diagnose. people witb Parkinsons Actual discovery, research and disease, and fainilies; te documentation of' the disease create public awareness occurred in 1817, a result of the work by British doctor James Volunteer Parkinson, after whom the dis- Membership: 40 ease is named. «There is no known cause," Funding: Sources Trillium says Toenjes. «It is not bere- grant, some fundraising, ditary. Theory has it tbat it 15 $15 membersbip fee something in the environment." There are tbree symptoms of Contact: Harry or Pauline Parkinson's disease. The first 's Toenjes, 668-6580 a tremor then cornes rigidity, ____________ followed by slowness of move- ment. "I first bad a tremor in rny about tbe disease. Tired of the rigbt band,» says Toejnes. 1I was travelling,- Toenjes started a 35 at the time. Over the next Durbam chapter'-of the Parkin- three te, four years, it started te sns onatin upr get worse. In 1980, I had a gsu onrpFopeation, a supor operation - brain surgery - wh groups or's eple ithi arin-e stppdteteo. Besides being supportive of one .twcording te o, enjes there bas anotiier, members of the organi- been some controversy over the zainpmoeubcaares brain surgery Parkinson s of the -sease. patients receive. Parkinson's Awareness Week "«The brain is lacking dopa- is from April 23 te April 29. mine. Doctors take brain tissue Members will be distributing in- from a fetus and transplant it to formation and selling 'Parkinson a person's brain. A lot of people Tulipe' in both the Whitby Mal are against :siýng a fetus. TheY and Oshawa Shopping Centre. feel it is not ehcal.» "Wé want to make people Aihoug there is no cure for aware of the disease itself,' says Parkinson'sisase, it can be Teenes. controlled tbrough medication. The Durham Regio*,n chapter «The biggest, most useful druzg bas regular month y meetings, is Levadopa,» sa s Toenjes. "W8 beld on the first Monday of each been available for the past 20 month. They share information, years. There is a new drug called bave jguest speakers, and deal ieprenyl.» It is a Hungarian with issues relating te, Parkin- druig and is said tu slow the son's disease. progression of the dîsease. Ini addition te their montbly Ac:cording te Toenjes, Dr. Mor- meetings, members get together ton Schulman of Toaronte, who to, exercise on Thursdays at 9:30 bas Parkinson's disease bas tbe a.m. in St. Mark's United (Jhurch distributing rights te tle drug. House. ýExercises are not diffi- While some people consider it a cuIt, but due te, the nature and wonder drug Toejes, who bas rigidity of the disease, tend to taken it for aMbout -a year, feels it bel p the muscles for improved is less effective. mobility. «It's helpful, but it's certanly «We are emphasizing exercise not a wonder drug." She also and medication,» says Toenjes. says.that the drug has d ou bled "By stretching, we are keeping inprlce. ý the joints movable. The exercise Aer Toenjes had bier ope- is not strenuous, it's mostly for ration in 1980, she began feelmI mobility.- better. She and ber busband The organization also produces Harry .had- been -going. <Wo --ta nionthly, es p,~;êitip Té 441o dicu 6iu ~ td " _____1 41 Im doin'g some housedeaning in the back of your.ùd. i tsmyour conscience. With ail the things we have ocormmnd, it's no wonder you can't remember where yulf orsocks! OdphoKie numbers.. ."didn't do my homnework because..." excuses. Y'm throwing ail this stuff out. But some l of the best parts of you are in here, too. The parts that want tD give a friend a helping hand or give a little more time to a' worthy cause. Parts that care about your community and 3our neighbours. Let's mov~ this stuff up to the front of your mind and use it to change the orld. Helping causes we care about wil be a breeze without al the clutter, so let's get to it! Oh, and bý the way, that littie widget you can't find isi the back of your tpp dresser drawer...A ,ýmagine is.a national program to corg giving and volunteering.