I thoroughly enjoyed speaking at Dr. Roger Kurlan’s Day of Hope at Overlook Hospital on September 19th. I had a few fun slides such as this “Genetics 101.”
I used my “Big Kahuna” to emphasize that the Michael J. Fox Foundation calls our breakthrough in identifying alpha-synuclein the “most promising therapeutic target for Parkinson disease.”
I began the talk with having chaired a London meeting of parkinsonologists even as I realized I was developing PD. Finding Michael J. Fox’s book at Harrod’s was a lifeline for me—I needed to know if I would ever again feel “lucky.” Having reviewed some promising therapeutics in development, I concluded saying that I’m still working on getting to “Lucky,” but I HAVE gotten to “Hopeful.”
