Parkinson's diagnosis - Alun Morgan's story

Alun, 63, was a secondary school teacher before he was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 49.

He describes how he felt when he was diagnosed and what it means to talk to people in the same situation.

Parkinson's diagnosis

"When I was diagnosed, I came home and cried. I thought it was the end of my life. I was very upset and told my wife and we both sobbed.

"I had a lot of symptoms including a frozen shoulder, no sense of smell and an arm that didn't swing when I walked. But, because I was suffering from depression, when I went to the doctors they didn't take any notice of me. They just told me to go back to work.

"Then I started noticing other things. When I was in school I'd see what I'd written on the board and think 'hang on, this isn't my writing'. If I'd known anything about Parkinson's, I might have guessed.

Sharing experiences

"I got involved with Parkinson's UK after I was asked if I'd ever talked to anybody with Parkinson's.

"I started meeting other people with Parkinson's and it helped all of us to talk to someone who had the same condition.

"The main problems, and this applies to most chronic illnesses, are frustration because you can't do things, pain because it physically hurts and anger at the fact you've developed the condition. We talk about how to deal with all these things.

Moving on with Parkinson's

"What I've learned from it all is that you've got to have a goal in life; you've got to aim at something or life just drifts past. I accepted I had Parkinson's and moved on. I started a new life but from a different starting place.

"In the story I have written about my life I started by contrasting my life to the sea; on the ebb, on the flow, calm, stormy and relentless. In the end I was drowning but found a new way to swim."

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