I was diagnosed with young onset PD in May 2025 just before I turned 43. My wife and I have 5 kids (ages 9-19) and I work as a pastor. When I got the diagnosis, rather than the common response of tears, I felt numb about it for months. I had been experiencing symptoms for a couple years and didn’t feel any different symptoms-wise, I was still doing all the same things, and was just…numb.
I received an incredible gift from my church where from mid-November 2025 through mid-January 2026, I was granted an 8-week sabbatical, and reckoning with my PD diagnosis was right at the top of my goal list for this time away.
So just before leaving on a solo retreat in a beautiful spot somewhere in Tennessee, I discovered this podcast. On the drive down there, I listened to episode after episode, just amazed that it existed—hosted by two people with young onset Parkinson’s disease. This was an essential for me—it made me feel less alone in my diagnosis and normalized so many of the things I’ve been experiencing. I found those tears and I found a sort of community.
When I first was diagnosed, I had no interest in joining a Parkinson’s gym like Rock Steady Boxing. I said I wasn’t interested, but I was actually scared. I was scared to encounter people in the worst stages of the disease, scared that I would be overwhelmed by a grim future. But at some point, thanks to Jessica and Brian and all your special guests, I realized that I wasn’t going to find the Parkinson’s worst case scenarios at Rock Steady Boxing, because the people who are making the effort to get out three times a week and sweat and work and push their bodies, they’re not the worst of anything!
Rather than a worst case scenario, I’m encountering encouraging scenarios.
I’ve already met two men who were diagnosed at exactly my age, and they’ve had
Parkinson’s for 15-20 years and are still exercising, getting around, and even coaching us in our workouts!In my vulnerability I have now found a community of people
experiencing the same vulnerability, and I honestly can’t believe how encouraging it is.
I listened to the first episode of The Secret Life of Parkinson’s at the beginning of December, and this week I “caught up.” That’s 171 episodes in less than three months. Jessica, Brian, and friends, you were my only Parkinson’s community before I found the gym here in South Bend, and I’m not sure I would have found them without your podcast. Thank you so much—this show is truly a gift to the PD community, especially young onsetters like us.
