" Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
I've always questioned how a man who knew that he was dying, could express such a thought. Yet Lou Gehrig saw the big picture. I believe that Gehrig probably appreciated what he had before he was diagnosed with ALS. It took Parkinson's for me to appreciate how good my life has been. I don't mean that in a comparative way. It's still good.
This is a tough world. I was born to a middle class family in Queens, NY. not the poverty of Cuba. The nearest thing to hunger that I've felt was an empty box of Mallomars, not the hunger of an African child. A disaster, to me,r is when the Yankees miss the playoffs, not an earthquake in Haiti.
Prior to PD, I was unappreciative of what life had given me. Up through today, I've been egocentric. Maybe PD was natures way of saying, "Hey Schmuck, you're not alone." As you know, I signed up too walk for PD research. I'm walking in Central Park on April 16. I had initially set a goal of raising $1,000.00. We passed that the first day, so I raised it to $2,500.00. We passed that on the fifth day. We're now closing in on $3,000.00. I'm overwhelmed by my friends and family. It's odd that it took something like Parkinson's to make me fully appreciate how lucky I am.
It's a small step, No pun intended, but it's a beginning. It's my beginning.
"So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."
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