By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-962968.mp3
Dallas, TX – One in a hundred people over age 60 have Parkinson's. It's a neurological disorder that often robs patients of movement, balance and speech. It's incurable, but there's hope.
Broadcast journalist Dave Iverson is among those hopeful there'll be a medical a breakthrough. After Iverson became the third person in his family affected by Parkinson's he produced a documentary that explored his personal journey and the latest research for the public television program "Frontline". It's entitled "My Father, My Brother, and Me."
During a recent interview with KERA's Shelley Kofler Iverson recalled experiencing the first symptoms of Parkinson's in 2004.
"I had this odd sensation where my left hand and arm and leg were sort of tingling," Iverson said.
The sensation was uncomfortably familiar to Iverson because it was the same strange tingling his brother Peter had noticed when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's 12 years before. It was also among the symptoms marking the long battle Iverson's father had with the illness beginning in 1971.
At age 55 Dave Iverson was no stranger to Parkinson's, but he wasn't ready for how the diagnosis would change his life either.
A five-minute excerpt of Iverson's interview with KERA is posted above. You can listen to the complete interview by clicking the play button below.
Please download Adobe Flash to load audio player.
Watch Iverson's documentary "My Father, My Brother, and Me": http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/parkinsons/view/
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's: http://www.michaeljfox.org/