Day by Day Parkinson's Diary 2012
Parkinson's Diary


As seen on the Today show!

 

Ian and Max Findlay

Ian Findlay with son, Max

 

Nicole Findlay

Nicole Findlay, Diary Author

About

The Day by Day Parkinson's Diary has been developed by Nicole & Ian Findlay. Ian's inspirational story is below:

For as long as I can remember I have been around swimming. I was hooked, well and truly when my older brother, Jimmy had all of his Olympic uniforms delivered to our home before he swam for Australia in Butterfly at the Munich Olympics, 1972.

Some of the highlights of my involvement in swimming over the years include:

  • Swimming and living at the Australian Institute of Sport for two years;
  • Holding the Australian Open Record Butterfly 200m (1983);
  • Being an Australian representative in the 200m Butterfly at the Pan Pac games (1983);
  • Being Assistant Coach to Laurie Lawrence when Duncan Armstrong won the Gold Medal for the 200m freestyle at the Seoul Olympics (1988);
  • Being a Malaysian Swim Team coach at the Olympics, Seoul (1988);
  • Coaching Glen Houseman to a World Record in 1500m (1989), and a Silver Olympic Medal at Barcelona in (1992);
  • Australian Commonwealth Games Team Coach, Auckland (1990);
  • Australian World Championship Swim Team Coach, Perth (1991);
  • Being the Head Coach of the Australian Paralympic team, Atlanta 1996);
  • Setting up my own swim school in Toowoomba and managing The Glennie Aquatic Centre for many young swimming enthusiasts (1994-2006).

In 2004, at the age of 40 I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease. This news floored me and I think I lived in shock for a good while, as my Dad had passed away with Parkinson’s in 1996. In the first two years, I chose to keep my Parkinson’s private and managed it with medication. However, during this time my symptoms progressed at a rate where my medication had been significantly increased but were providing no longer than 2 hours of ‘on’ time. My muscles suffered from severe cramping which made walk­ing more than 200m difficult. Sleeping at night was impossible, and many a night was spent watching the late night Letterman Show.
In 2006, with my mobility decreasing and rigidity increasing I was unable to continue working as a professional swim coach and we made the decision to move to the Gold Coast to be closer to our family support network (and the beach). My wife returned to full time teaching and I became ‘Mr Mum’ to our young son, Max and did some part time consultancy work from home.

People diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at any age have many obstacles to overcome, but those diagnosed at such a young age are often working to support their family. Parkin­son’s can be a huge knock to one’s self esteem when they can no longer continue working in their field of expertise.

Feeling like I was ‘maxed’ out on medication all the time with little relief, the option of Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery (DBS) arose in December 2008. It was then that I underwent the surgery at St Andrew’s War Memorial hospital under the skilled guidance of Professor Peter Silburn, Dr Terry Coyne and their team of doctors. The op­eration was initially a great success. My symptoms were not as severe and I felt a huge relief from the muscle cramping.
In March 2009, things didn’t seem quite right and all of my old symptoms returned and I was back on full medi­cation. The months that followed consisted of weekly trips to the neurologist in Brisbane to try and find a reason for my returning symptoms. An x-ray eventually revealed a broken lead on the left side that connected the probe in my brain to the stimulator in my chest. I un­derwent Deep Brain Stimulation surgery for the second time in August 2009 to repair the broken lead.

My recovery has been slower second time round, but I have now re­turned to swimming and walking the beach regularly. On Easter Saturday 2010 I was able to complete a 12km ocean swim from Burleigh Heads to Surfers Paradise. I like to keep life pretty simple these days and enjoy spending time with my wife Nicole and my three children – Sophie, Dylan and Max.  I’m at a stage where I have found a good balance with my medication and DBS settings, and I am looking forward to returning to Swim Coaching in 2011.

I am thoroughly grateful for the mobility that I have regained through DBS. We would like to encourage the advancement of this technology, so Nicole & I developed the diary to aid people with PD, through which we will direct proceeds towards Parkinson's Disease research at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research.