OKAY! Betty M. is three years symptom free. How inspiring is that! Three years ago at this time Betty M. said it was time to announce her recovery. On August 20, 2013, I posted, Fighting Parkinson’s, and Betty M. is symptom free. CONGRATULATIONS, BETTY!
CONGRATULATIONS, BETTY! Three years symptom free, cured of Parkinson’s. That is absolutely wonderful!!!
Here is some inspiration from Betty. Two years ago, she returned to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to be examined by her doctors. It had been 11 months since her full recovery, 11 months since she had done the Recipe, and a year since being seen by the neurologists.
I received an email from her the evening of the appointment with a Subject Line, “PD-free!” When I opened the email, the first thing Betty wrote was this, “It’s official! Two out of two Mayo Clinic/Rochester neurologists agree: Betty does not have Parkinson’s.” I was elated. Good for Betty. Good for the neurologists who did not take away her diagnosis when they found no Parkinson’s. Good for all of you who I knew would be hearing this story!
I asked Betty if she could get a copy her medical record and give me permission to share the findings with all of you. She said of course, and provided me the medical records. At the Mayo Clinic, Betty was seen by two neurologists who first documented her history, beginning with, “This patient has had imbalance since 2006 when she began lurching to the left.” The neurologists put her through all of their tests and then documented the following conclusion:
“Neuro: I agree entirely with Dr. Scharf. There is no evidence of parkinsonism.”
That’s it! Betty received a clean bill of health regarding her Parkinson’s. Congratulations Betty.
At the time that Betty first contacted me, she had been dealing with eight years of problems with her legs and poor walking. The Mayo Clinic had it documented all the way back to 2006 “when she began lurching to the left.” Eventually, a Parkinson’s diagnosis came along.
However, Betty never gave up on herself. She meditated and prayed and worked on physically healing herself. She learned that she was worth it, and she fought the fear. And then we connected, and the Recipe provided her with the final pieces of the puzzle she had been trying to solve all those years.
My friend Betty, here we are, all of us inspired by you and your recovery. Thank you for not giving up on yourself, and thank you for sharing your life and your story so freely with all of us.
CONGRATULATIONS, BETTY!!! THREE YEARS SYMPTOM FREE FULL RECOVERY, CURED FROM PARKINSON’S!!!
Who’s next? What are you waiting for? Grab onto the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® and let it be your road map to your recovery.
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Congratulations Betty. It’s feels so good to hear about others who have
beaten this disease. It keeps my sense of hope overflowing with joy.
Thank you so much for sharing this…..and thank you, Betty. It was just what I needed today as I felt like giving up and quitting work. Instead….renewed hope and knowing I am worth this effort! So I am off, tremors be damned, to sell my new listing!
Betty you are truly truly blessed. Be nice to hear from you sometime on the blog, let us know how your doing.
Karen xx
So very inspiring, Betty…what a joy this is to read this morning…thank you so much. And heaps of gratitude to you too, Howard for your wonderful service as coach, mentor and friend.
Love to all on this beautiful summer morning in British Columbia, Canada…I hope the sun is casting its sweet rays on you too. I feel so grateful to be alive!
Congratulations Betty! I’ll be joining you soon!
congratulation to both Betty and Howard.
I knew Betty could do it and she is worth it.
lots of love
waiting for others to join too. all the best
Bhavna
Good on you Betty. Wonderful freedom again. Keeping at it, trusting and loving one self and handing over the fear to The Divine. We are all in this together. Xx
Ps and gratitude for what we do have and see and feel. 😎😍
Dear Karen….sometimes when we are feeling at a low ebb we can feel no one understands how we feel. But it matters not if no one understands as our healing is not dependent on it. The only understanding we need is that we understand ourselves. We can spend valuable time wasted on comparing ourselves with others and unknowingly sabotage our best efforts thinking we can’t keep up or that others are stronger than us. Dear Karen I believe the prize is usually equal to the price so keep your focus on the prize and the price will be worth it. As Howard keeps telling us ‘ you are worth it’. We do not have to struggle, compete and compare but rather we need to complete, co operate and love each other. When you have lost belief in yourself know that others believe in you. Each one has something of their own uniqueness to contribute to this world so hang in there my friend. God bless and congratulations to Betty.
Veronica
Veronica what a thought provoking and beautiful message. Thank you so much dear friend. The prize is equal to the price…. I like that. You have great depth and wisdom Veronica. Do you mind me asking how old you are? I’m 52. 🙂 xx
ps. Veronica I was just going through the last few blogs and saw a reply you gave me that I had not read. Your dad sounds like a wise soul, how devastating to lose 4 children , your loss too of four siblings. My siblings have been my rock on this journey. I love your thinking when you wake each day asking why you are getting out of bed and what for. I’m trying segment intention, hour by hour what it is I hope to achieve.
You’re right Veronica , I do compare myself. Howard, Marie, Betty and Pratima all achieved success within a year or so. My mind keeps thinking the more I degenerate the harder it is to recover. Helen taking over three years was a consolation. My son keeps asking ” mom how bad were these success stories, were they as bad as you have become?” He does so much for me and is worried as he is returning to college soon. In truth Veronica , he just reflects my thoughts. Like you say, no point in comparing, no two people with this condition have the exact same symptoms . We do all have great compassion and understanding of each other. I just keep asking God to ease the overwhelm and give me strength to keep going and banish all my doubts in there being an end to this. Thank you again my friend, your path has not been easy either. Big Love to you. xx
Hi Karen,
You stated a very important point, “He does so much for me and is worried as he is returning to college soon. In truth Veronica , he just reflects my thoughts.” So, if you want others to know you are having a recovery and to not stare at your symptoms and worry, you have to know and show it in your heart and your attitude.
Here is an excerpt from a blog I posted two years ago on the same point: “Knowing you will be cured. In the beginning of my journey, I knew I would be cured one day. Sally knew it, too. In the last couple of weeks, I asked my daughter Victoria if she ever thought I was afraid I would not be cured or ever thought I was concerned that the increasing symptoms meant I was getting worse. She said that I was so confident in my recovery, never showing fear of Parkinson’s or concern over increasing symptoms, and as a result, she and her siblings were completely confident in my recovery as well.”
Others will act toward you how you act toward yourself. Decide you will have a recovery one day and move forward, step by step in your life. This journey is your life, not your Parkinson’s recovery. The recovery happens as part of bringing your life back into balance, https://www.fightingparkinsonsdrugfree.com/2013/12/16/fighting-parkinsons-and-bringing-your-life-back-into-balance/.
I know you can do this. Decide it is true for yourself, and you will know you can do it, too!
Love and blessings,
Howard
Thanks Howard.xx
Hello, Karen. Reading your post I want to reach out and also offer you encouragement. While everyone’s symptoms and everyone’s cure are individual, there are some things that helped me that I want to share with you and with the group, as one of the people who followed the Recipe to full recovery. Howard’s inspiration and guidance helped on so many levels and in so many ways, but your words brought one aspect especially to mind, and that was opening to the beauty and the grace of moments in the present, and letting the gratitude I felt really penetrate and fill me. That letting go and just being and experiencing the dopamine flow of those moments seems like a huge part of what changed for me. In those moments, there was no struggle and no wanting anything to be other than it was; they were precious joyful moments of feeling my life. My own default mode was to focus on problems and all the things that so desperately (it seemed) needed my attention. My practice was to really take in the good and to stay in the experience, whether it was watching clouds roll by, or seeing a rainbow, or sitting with someone I love, or hearing a song that moved me. I intentionally enlarged that experience by putting my attention fully into that moment, and opening to it completely , expanding it from a passing blip in awareness to something that filled me up. I could, and still can, when I do this, feel the dopamine flooding my brain and then my body relaxing. Then, by feeling gratitude for the moment….more dopamine! Staying with the experiences for 15 seconds…30 seconds…..a full minute many times throughout the day helped shift the balance in me from ‘what is wrong’ to ‘what is right’.
Here comes my old dog, Lola, coming to be near me. I feel my love for this dog who has been my faithful companion…then open more to let that sink in. The opportunities to experience sweet moments are all around us all the time.
Best wishes to you, Karen, and everyone in their recovery.
Dear Marie,
What you have shared is profoundly good for me, as it addresses the mental fatigue I have recently identified and distinguished from physical fatigue. I think what you are suggesting we do is difficult for the over active (ADD?) mind to do. My mind is constantly hop, skipping and jumping around, and dwelling on a thought until I can feel the positive emotion is super hard for me. Maybe I have buried emotions in the past, so that it’s become a habit, and now I find it hard to feel good feelings fully. Maybe I don’t feel worthy of feeling joyful abandon. Maybe I’m not allowing the dopamine faucet to be opened up.
It really helps me that you get down to nuts and bolts: “Staying with the experiences for 15 seconds…30 seconds…..a full minute many times throughout the day helped shift the balance in me from ‘what is wrong’ to ‘what is right’. ”
I am so grateful that you have taken opportunities to share more details of your recovery, which enhance and expound on what Howard is teaching us.
God bless you for your generosity.
God bless Howard for his confidence and dedication.
And God bless all of my fellow Warriors in the trenches of Parkinson’s.
Big love to everyone!
Thank you Pat for your helpful comment. You have put into words how I feel but didn’t realise until you said it. And thank you Marie for sharing x
Dear Pat, happy to know this resonated with you! And whatever the reasons might be for your finding it difficult to fully and deeply experience those times of deep,satisfaction and gratitude, I’m confident that you can do it… 15 seconds here and there….and that with practice it will become easier and easier. There are exciting and very hopeful discoveries in modern neuroscience supporting this. “Neurons that fire together wire together”
The more we practice happiness, the easier it becomes. Best wishes, Marie
Bless you Marie, thank you.xx
Y0u are so welcome, Karen! May it be of help to you in your recovery.
Congratulations Betty,
You’re an inspiration to us!
A huge thanks to Howard for pioneering the way, sharing, inspiring and keeping the flame of hope burning brightly for us all. This is the place I come to when I’m struggling.
Love and blessings
Waseema
Dear Karen…..thank you. I like your theory of hour by hour. I am 75 with a son and a daughter, 5 grandchildren and 2 great grand children. Keep your face to the sunshine and know that we never lose. We only win or learn. Blessings to you.
Veronica 🌺🌺
Veronica I knew you were a wise young soul 🙂 xx
Hi Howard and Everyone ,
Thanks so much for such beautiful words of encourage, wisdom and love !!! I am now opening to the beauty and the grace of this moment in the present, and letting the gratitude I feel really penetrate and fill me ! Fifteen seconds…..thirty seconds and now a minute or more . So much has come together for me to fully enjoy this moment. I am truly blessed !! I am grateful !! This journey is my life, not my Parkinson’s recovery. The recovery is happening in me as I learn to balance out my life. Thank you to each of you for making this moment so sunny and bright for me. And now I am off to discover and to feel the warm of many more awe inspiring moments that await me today.
Sending love and blessings,
With much happiness and gratitude,
Debbie
A big Congratulations to Betty !!! Thanks to both Howard and Betty for sharing with us !
Against war, against anxiety, against all things that are we reality at this time, there
a place of peace, sacred, where we can stay-and this place is our inner divine
Thank you for the hope!
Blessings
Barbara
Dear friends….I’m grateful for these exchanges and with them, treasuring the love, compassion and practical advice from you all…most particularly Marie’s very supportive words about integrating gratitude. I’ve copied them and printed them out, Marie so I can reference them until gratitude becomes a more fluid and natural part of my daily healing…and now, dear soul, I’m opening up the dopamine cup as I sit in gratitude for you and your warm and very wise presence.