"RaceTrac's Run for Research 5K" - in support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research! This family-friendly event, which will be held in Dallas, Tampa, and RaceTrac's hometown of Atlanta, is open to runners and walkers of all levels. All proceeds, including 100% of registration fees, will go directly to fund the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s support of Parkinson's research.
I am walking in memory of my mama Linda Albea. She lost her 23 year battle with Parkinson's Disease in November of 2017. She was diagnosed in the fall of 1994 when I was a freshman in High School. She was one of the youngest in the Southeast being only 43 when she was diagnosed at what was then the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta under Dr. Sethi. She went through numerous trial medications over the following years and finally had to retire early from her teaching career in 2001. After finding out that she was going to be a grandmother, she then went on to find excellent doctors at Emory University in Atlanta and had her first Deep Brian Stimulation Surgery in March of 2007. She had the other side of the brain DBS surgery in 2012. She benefited from DBS both times and was able to enjoy her life, love and spoil her granddaughter and not see symptoms of Parkinson's as bad for several years. She slowly progressed to needing more care from continuous falls and had to be placed in assisted living in February of 2016. She was still mentally sound and sharp as a tack, and that was the hardest part of her going to assisted living. Even with assisted living she was still falling. She fell July 3, 2017 and fractured her C2 vertebrae. Doctors were not able to perform surgery at the risk of her not making it through surgery. She stayed in swing bed care at our local hospital for a month and started showing signs of Alzheimer's. After the month in swing bed, she was sent back to assisted living but on Hospice. In October she started having seizures and had to enter a full service nursing home. In the middle of November, on a Tuesday, she started to refuse her medication on her own and stopped eating. She only lasted three days after that passing away peacefully on Friday afternoon November 17, 2017.
In her 23 year battle she was always so full of life and would make you smile and laugh with her. Her smile and laughter is missed everyday!!
