Pages tell the story of Parkinson's
Local woman shares her experiences of life with the disease
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer

Annie Konopka, right, of Kendall Park, was diagnosed four years ago with Parkinson's disease. She and her friend Judy Hensley will be featured in a book about the disease.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - A Kendall Park resident will be featured in a new book called "Proud Hands," a compilation of stories from people coping with Parkinson's disease. The book will be released on April 26 at the annual Parkinson's Unity Walk in New York.

Annie Konopka, 41, was diagnosed with Parkinson's four years ago and has been participating in the UnityWalk since 2005.Along with a friend that she met online, Judy Hensley, from Tennessee, Konopka raised $17,000 for the 2006 walk and $28,000 for the 2007 walk. She has raised over $58,000 overall in the past four years.

"Michael J. Fox is usually there and makes a speech," Konopka said. "There's a lot of people there. Janet Reno goes, who has Parkinson's."

Konopka heard about the book at last year's walk. She approached a booth run by Teva Neuroscience, a pharmaceutical company, and learned that they would be selecting 28 stories from patients all around the country to be included. Both Konopka and Hensley were chosen to share their experiences.

"They kind of picked my story because of the things I do, and to give hope to people that you can live a normal life as much as you can," Konopka said. "You don't have to stop living because of Parkinson's disease."

The stories are short, around a page each, but Konopka is looking forward to reading about other people's experiences.

"It helps me," she said. "It can give me an idea of some things that other people do that maybe I don't do."

Konopka mentioned that it is hard to find people who have active lives with Parkinson's because there is depression involved.

"I was diagnosed at 37, though I've had it for at least four years before that," she said.

At first, doctors did not know how to diagnose her symptoms. They said it was just stress-related. Also, since she was so young, doctors thought there was more of a possibility of it being multiple sclerosis.

"They had a hard time figuring out what was going on," she said. "I had numbness in my legs, and in my arms and feet. I started to have a tremor in my left hand. My gait was off when I was walking."

Eventually she was brought to a movement disorder specialist who immediately diagnosed her with young onset Parkinson's disease.

She was given medication right away and since it worked, they knew it was definitely Parkinson's.

When she found out, she and her family were not happy, but were definitely relieved.

"It was a long time coming," Konopka said. "We were relieved that the doctors found out what was wrong. We were not happy, but we were glad it wasn't something terminal."

Konopka met her friend, Judy Hensley, on an online chat group. They talked about things like medications, what kind of symptoms they were having and what kind of day they were having. She eventually started an online group called the USA PD-PALS, for people with Parkinson's to talk about their situations.

"We're very similar in the way we feel about life in general," Konopka said of her relationship with Hensley. "We're both very creative. She's a photographer, and I like to paint. I wrote a children's book about Parkinson's myself. She really is a special person."

Lately, it has been difficult to keep their chats together because of the lack of a voice chat.

"It's very hard to type [for people with Parkinson's]," Konopka said. "They took voice chat away. We had about 100 members at one time. But, people don't want to pay for voice chat out of their own pockets."

K

onopka says her life has changed

with Parkinson's - but maybe for the better.

"I feel like this has been a blessing in disguise," she said. "I actually found out I'm pretty good with painting. I've been in art shows. I've done things I wouldn't have done before."