Graeme Eastley finally learned the name for the mystery illness that was plaguing his everyday life: Parkinson’s disease.
About nine years ago I began to experience symptoms such as exhaustion and muscle pain, and I ached all over.
One Sunday, while preaching in a church in Pakenham, I suddenly felt like the room was turning in slow motion and thought I was going to faint.
I was left permanently weak on my left side and I lost the sense of smell.
My doctor thought I might have had a stroke but a scan found nothing. Over the next nine years my health deteriorated.
I was living with a so-called mystery illness that hindered my work and ministry.
People kept telling me to straighten up when I walked. This was because I dragged my left foot.
Sometimes it wouldn’t lift high enough and became trapped behind me.
I began to struggle to accomplish the daily tasks that used to come so easily to me.
I feared I was developing dementia. My speech and pronunciation were affected.
When I was preaching, I would see a word and I knew how it sounded but I couldn’t say it.
I had to give up public speaking and took up a position with the Salvation Army in Melbourne as a relief courts chaplain.
I was finally referred to a neurologist and diagnosed in February last year with Parkinson’s disease.
This was bitter-sweet for me, but at least I now have a name for the mystery illness that was plaguing my everyday life, and I can be treated.
The medication eases my shakes but, when I’m under stress, the shakes can override the medication – so I had to move from chaplaincy in the courts. Now, at 50, I work part-time in the office assisting with finances and administration. I can work at my own pace.
I will take part in the Parkinson’s Victoria Walk in the Park on Sunday, August 26, along the Yarra with family, friends and colleagues to raise funds and awareness for Parkinson’s Victoria. I do have some bad days, but I am confident I can walk the four-kilometre distance. It’s really just a stroll.
