Empower a Parkinson's Fighter to Keep Giving Back
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From a very early age I was keenly aware of, and highly sensitive to the unhappiness of those around me. So much so, that when I observed people struggling or being challenged with hardship in their lives, I was often moved to tears. I wanted to do something to help them, to take away their pain and sadness, to eliminate their struggle, and to give them hope for better days.
I cried a lot as a child.
As I matured however, I quickly realized that life was filled with struggles and challenges, for each and every one of us. Myself included. It is after all, a big part of what life is. But having that knowledge never diminished my desire to help make a difference in peoples lives.
One of my core beliefs in life is that each living soul on this planet is here for one reason and one reason only, and that is to be the highest expression of whomever we can be. Nothing more, nothing less. And what that is for each person is as individual and as unique as each of us are, and it is something each person must search their soul to discover. Quite often in the midst of facing our own struggles and challenges.
The Power of Imagination.
With every challenge in life you always have a choice. You can choose to imagine the worst, or you can choose to imagine the best. The choice is up to you. But ultimately what you choose to do with your imagination goes a long way toward contributing to the life you end up living. There really are no rules on how you have to see things. Our interpretations of life and the challenges we face are up to each and every one of us.
I choose to imagine the best.
In 2012 at the age of 52, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. A diagnosis that for many might signal an end to one's life as they had known it, for me it signaled the start of making a stronger push forward. I quickly set about embracing it as a challenge I could overcome and focused on receiving it as a gift that happened for me as opposed to a disease that happened to me.
Over the years since my diagnosis I've personally raised over $60,000 for Parkinson's Foundations for research and care, participated as a clinical trial participant for 7 years in the Michael J. Fox Foundations PPMI clinical trial to try and isolate a biomarker for Parkinson's, advocated for the positive influence of mindfulness on slowing the progression of the disease through public speaking, authoring Tremors in the Universe, my memoir and personal account of my journey with Parkinson's disease and spirituality and giving a TedTalk entitled Park in the Sun. (YouTube) All in the hopes of helping others in their journeys and to help them overcome the challenges that they face, and ultimately feel loved.
The Quality of One's Life is Directly Equal to Their Perception of It.
Prior to receiving my diagnosis of Parkinson's disease I had owned and operated my own small graphic design agency for 25 plus years. It was my first opportunity to share my unique vision of my world and where my imagination flourished. Throughout the majority of those years I provided award-winning B to B and B to C designs and advertising until eventually Parkinson's took its toll on my hands fine motor skills that make it possible to utilize a computer keyboard and mouse efficiently enough to keep pace in a faster paced digital world. From about 2017 until the closing of my design business in 2021 despite my best efforts and attitude I could not stop my clients exodus in search of faster talent.
Still, I was determined to make the best of the situation and push forward. I'm not one to complain much about my life or my challenges I face because I feel that for the most part we all are recipients or victims of the choices we make. I've experienced this for myself in well-meaning choices I have made, such as my decision to cancel my disability insurance 5 years prior to my diagnosis. I was young, healthy, and trying to provide for three young adults that would soon be going off to college. I couldn't have foreseen the diagnosis that lay just around the corner. I guess when you see the best in everything and everyone you miss those possibilities.
Additionally it was important to me to keep working, keep contributing to life and my family. In doing so, however I didn't realize that the 30 years of unemployment insurance I paid into in my previous design business was being washed away by my new employment endeavors.
But what I also learned from these experiences is that out of hardship and necessity quite often great new opportunities are born.
Touching Hearts, Minds, and Spirits Through Massage
Driven by a desire to share the healing powers of mindfulness, therapeutic touch from massage, and my natural gift for providing transformational life counseling, I went back to college in 2017 at age 57 to earn my license to practice massage therapy.
In 2018 I opened Giving Back Massage of Barrington, a small boutique therapeutic massage and wellness studio located in Barrington, Illinois, that focuses not only on the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of its clients through its service offerings but on the wellness of the community as well through its philanthropic support of charitable organizations with a philosophy of "When our communities thrive we all thrive."
Asking for help so that I may continue to help others.
The focus of my work has always been born from love. A love for others and love for our common connection to God, no matter how you choose to worship. Parkinson's has yet to stop me physically from continuing my efforts to help others. On the contrary, a disease that threatens the connections in my brain has only served to strengthen my connections to humanity. I am reaching out to ask for your financial assistance to ensure I can continue to provide these healing services and love to every soul who seeks them.
I believe that it is possible that in times of darkness, one might simply be in the shadows of angels wings. I am humbly calling on angels to help me continue to be of service to those that need it.
Thank you and God bless.
*Funds raised through this effort will be used as investment capital for Giving Back Massage of Barrington's operations, mission, and expansion.
Giving Back Massages mission: https://www.givingbackmassage.com/our-mission
Organizer
Robert Baittie
Organizer
Barrington, IL