Parkinson’s disease is the second most prevalent age-related neurological disorder behind dementia. More than 80,000 individuals live with Parkinson’s disease in Australia.

NeuRA’s annual major donor event, Food for Thought was held at NeuRA‘s Margarete Ainsworth Building, in May 2018. At the event, NeuRA announced plans to respond to the growing prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in our community.

We were delighted to have the Hon. John Watkins AM join us as our guest speaker for the night. John spoke about his personal experience with Parkinson’s disease after being diagnosed around eight years ago, after retiring as deputy premier of New South Wales. He initially tried to hide his condition as he did not want the stigma of Parkinson’s to define him.

John told the audience how freeing it was to share his experience with those around him. He discussed the importance of being an advocate for medical research and how fortunate he is to be living in an era of so many breakthroughs. In fact, the Food for Thought dinner was the first time that John had spoken publicly about what it is like to live with Parkinson’s disease. John’s optimism in the face of the challenges before him is truly inspiring.
NeuRA was very proud to share this important milestone with the Hon. John Watkins AM and will continue to seek support and funding to make discoveries that will help the community understand this disease and hopefully one day find a cure.

You can now listen to the audio of the Hon. John Watkins’ speech on the NeuRA podcast.