carerpoet
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Jul 1, 2012 (14 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Jul 1, 2012 (14 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 1
- Replies created
- 0
Bio
I am 64 years old. Nine years ago, my husband of 43 years was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Last summer his condition deteriorated considerably in that we realised he had also developed Lewy Body dementia, a form of dementia associated with Parkinson's and which occurs in around 20% of Parkinson's sufferers. Before all this our lives were very different. My husband had a great love for outdoor pursuits, golf, walking, horse riding which took him away for long periods. This freed me up to develop my passion, that of creative writing. For many years I had been an on/off creative writer and in 1999 I fulfilled a dream by being able to study creative writing at university. I completed a B.A. (hons.) and went on to do a Masters degree specialising in poetry which I also completed. Bitten by the academic bug, I enrolled for a PhD intending to study the work of some of the American women poets, but only a few months after embarking on this, my husband started developing the symptoms which ultimately led to the diagnosis of Parkinson's. I tried to keep up with the studying, but it all became too stressful, so with great regret I resigned.
I also stopped writing this blog, stopped writing anything and became a full time carer until I had a bad accident, sustaining two fractures. Difficult years followed and Mike passed away on Christmas Day 2014.
Eighteen months later I'm blogging again with a new name and new reasons to write as I slowly piece my life together again.