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Dear family and friends,

It was ten years ago that I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. It was also ten years ago that I first heard about the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route in Northern Spain.

My dream of making my own pilgrimage along the same route will be fulfilled this spring! My good friend, Claire, and I will join each other for the challenge and joy of walking the 800 km from Saint- Jean-Pied-de-Port in France westward to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

We realized, however, that there is a challenge much greater than walking 20 km a day for 40 days. People living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) face challenges affecting their quality of life every day.

PD is a progressive, neurological disease affecting more than 100,000 Canadians. People with Parkinson’s have difficulty with voluntary muscle control, exhibiting such symptoms as: slowness of movement, tremors, stiffness, postural instability and difficulty walking. There may also be non-motor symptoms such as depression, decreased memory and cognitive difficulties. Many of these symptoms may be successfully managed with medications but a cure has not yet been found.

We decided to address these challenges by teaming up with Parkinson Society Ottawa (PSO). As a regional partner of Parkinson Society Canada, PSO serves more than 8000 people in Eastern Ontario – both those with PD and their care partners – offering support and education to Ease the Burden and funding research and advocacy work to Find a Cure.

Partnering with PSO, we have set a goal of raising $8000. That means $10.00 for every kilometre we walk or $1.00 for every person served by PSO! Please consider being part of the team. You can keep us in your thoughts and prayers, spread the word about Parkinson’s disease, or kindly make a donation to PSO.

You may make your donation by filling in the attached form or by going online to https://www.parkinsons.ca/secure/donation_tributes.html and put in one of our names. Your gift will support people like me living with Parkinson’s today and will give us hope for the future.

Thank you for being part of the team that is working to ease the burden and find a cure.

Alice Templin

Claire Veenstra

We’ll keep you posted as we journey along – check out our blog at....
www.alice-and-claire.blogspot.com