By Dan Goldman
About four years ago, Pittsford resident Brad Schramek was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Soon after, he and his wife, Lynn, began attending support groups through the Parkinson’s Support Group of Upstate New York (PSGUNY).
“We get ideas from people in the group of what helps, be it an exercise or a different medication, different things that are helping them (with Parkinson’s),” Brad said.
Lynn started the Parkinson Café in October, hoping to serve an unmet need. The group offers regular social interaction during the winter months.
“By bringing these people together, they will enrich each other’s lives,” Lynn said. “We’re going to keep the Parkinson Café really upbeat. People can come and interact with other people who will totally accept the limitations and physical challenges they’re facing and understand and support them.”
According to the National Parkinson Foundation, Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that occurs when certain nerve cells in part of the brain become impaired. The loss of nerves causes a loss of dopamine — a neurotransmitter that the nerve cells produce — which results in friction in the body’s muscle coordination. Symptoms like shaking, slowness of movement and difficulty with balance are a result of the dopamine loss.
Brad, 48, left his position as vice president of human resources at Monro Muffler.
“I couldn’t multi-task,” he said. “It got to the point that answering the phone and working on the computer was a very difficult thing to do.”
Lynn is the PSGUNY’s vice president of communications. Brad was its vice president of strategic planning, but he recently resigned.
“We realized how much we were benefiting from our involvement in the group, and so much of our lives became devoted to living with Parkinson’s that it became a productive way to channel my creative talent,” Lynn said.
There were 26 Café events scheduled to run between October and April.
Webster resident Linda Lee was diagnosed with Parkinson’s one year ago. She has attended some of the Café events already, including exercise classes at Lifetime Care and a trip to the Strong National Museum of Play.
“It does take away the feeling of isolation,” Lee said. “This was my first time meeting another person with the disease.”
She said the Parkinson Café is a great idea, and she is grateful to Lynn and Brad for starting it.
“We toured the butterfly garden (at Strong), and, as Lynn pointed out, the butterfly is our symbol of hope,” Lee said. “I like to think that we too, like the butterfly, can emerge from our cocoon of immobility and isolation and interact and share with others and have wings to fly.”
Lynn created the Parkinson Café to provide a comfortable place for those affected by Parkinson’s disease and their families to spend time together.
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