(October 2006)

I am a 52-year-old mother of two who has lived with Parkinson’s disease for 11 Years. My symptoms started when my daughter was 2, and in the middle of the terrible two phase. The first symptom I noticed was when I would be watching TV and could feel my left arm starting to tremor long before you could see it.  Then after that I started having trouble with my gait.  My family and friends were concerned and wanted me to go to the doctor, but I was in denial.  I felt like the problems were because of my age and the fact that I had such an active child.

Finally, my younger sister told me and these were her exact words "If you don’t go to the doctor to see what is wrong, then I am coming home and taking you!"   She had always been the one I had listened to and so I made a doctor’s appointment.

When I went to my first neurologist, he ran thousands of tests (or it seemed like it at the time).  The results all came back negative. He never told me what he was testing for because he said he just wasn’t sure and wanted to prevent misdiagnosing me. He also told me he had run more tests on me than any of his other patients.  He finally sent me to my second neurologist in Lexington Kentucky, who also did a few tests. That doctor also informed me that there was something wrong but he didn’t know what it was.

After a while, I got tired of not getting answers and went to another neurologist for another opinion.   When the first doctor found out I had gone to a doctor of my choice, he dropped me as a patient. Now I realize he did me a favor.  I went through several other doctors in the same practice because of their relocating, which led me to my current doctor. He specializes in Parkinson’s disease and has helped me a lot.  I have gotten worse in some ways but, on the other hand, he has taught me things like the proper way to take my medicine and how important scheduling is and controlling temperature and stress to help symptoms.

Somewhere in all of this I developed breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy of my left breast, as well as chemotherapy. While I was fighting the cancer, I slowed down on the fight of Parkinson’s.  Now I am a seven-year cancer survivor, so I am concentrating on PD again.

This has also been very hard on my family.  Living with a chronically ill person is very difficult.  It takes its toll on family and friends.   I felt like when I called people they were thinking, "What does she want now.”   I have lost some friends and gained many others. 

I feel like I am lucky in some ways because of the compassion and understanding from special friends I have met in the cancer support group and the Parkinson’s support group at the Edge of the Forest.  I have gotten to personally meet one lady who lives in the next city and who also has PD and a daughter the same age as mine.  My daughter and I went out to eat and shop with her one night, and my daughter mentioned several times since then that “Finally, there is someone who knows what I am going through.”  I am sad that I can hardly do any activities with my daughter and that she has always known me as being a sick mom.  I might consider DBS in the near future, but right now I’m taking a new drug out on the market to see if it helps me.

In fighting both diseases I have learned the importance of a sense of humor and faith, along with the support of family and friends. You cannot fight chronic diseases on your own.  Chat rooms and support groups help you to know that you are not alone--that other people have the same problems and are going through the same thing.

A favorite saying is  “You only live one day at a time.” 

"You only live one day at a time."

Janice Fields, 56, of Kingsport, passed away on Sunday, September 19, 2010, at Indian Path Medical Center ending a long and difficult struggle with Parkinson's Disease. She lived in the Kingsport area her entire life, graduating from Sullivan Central High School and attending East Tennessee State University and Steed College. She had worked at Kingsport Press, Sears, and at Colonial Heights Methodist Church Pre-School.

Janice was a woman of strong faith and of great determination, qualities which served her well during her illness.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Kenneth Eugene Huffman (1999) and Ruth Suit Huffman (2007).

Janice is survived by her husband, Chester L. Fields, of Kingsport; her children (of whom she was fiercely proud) Jacob Matthew Fields, of Clifton Park, NY, Jessica Nicole Fields, of Kingsport; three sisters, Jo Stanley and Judith Huffman, both of Beaumont, TX, and Jenny Bernard, of Seattle, WA.

Her family offers their thanks to the many people who helped and supported her.