Flying Lessons
On the Wings of Parkinson's Disease
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Like William Styron's Darkness Visible, Flying Lessons: On the Wings of Parkinson's Disease is a chronicle of the human spirit, an inspiring tale of life lived to the fullest.
When Joan Grady-Fitchett was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, her doctor explained that this degenerative brain disorder would slowly steal her ability to walk, to speak clearly, and to care for herself, ultimately imprisoning her in a body she could no longer control.
Rejecting this prognosis, Grady-Fitchett determined to live as she always had--full speed ahead. She'd been a professional model, then one of Florida's most successful commercial real estate brokers, and soon after her diagnosis she bought and renovated an isolated farm in North Carolina.
Joan Grady-Fitchett participated in experimental drug programs that searched for medications that would alleviate Parkinson's symptoms with few side effects. She enrolled in a high-tech, experimental surgical program. And, somewhat to her own amazement, she fell in love with and married the man who is now her fourth husband.
In tragedy and triumph, Joan Grady-Fitchett has been sustained by a strong spiritual outlook and a deep appreciation of the natural world. In Flying Lessons, Grady-Fitchett shares with the reader the strength of her soul and the power of her courage.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"pathy is a great part of the disease and if you succumb to it, the disease will take over." Apathy, however, would hardly apply to Grady-Fitchett and her fight against Parkinson's disease. Diagnosed at the age of 47, Grady-Fitchett has spent the last 17 years contacting specialists and investigating treatments to combat the progressive loss of motor control, manifested by tremors, stiffness and difficulty in walking, that is brought on by the disease. In this feisty, engaging memoir, she describes her experience with a variety of prescription drugs, including deprenyl and Sinemet, that alleviated her symptoms for varying periods of time. Firmly believing that Parkinson's is a psychological as well as physical affliction, Grady-Fitchett refused to curtail her active life and provides an entertaining account of life on the North Carolina horse farm she purchased in 1983. A commercial real estate broker, she describes not only everyday challenges but unusual ones, such as her acceptance of the love of the man who would become her fourth husband well after she had given up hope of love, and her year-long legal battle with corporate lawyers who "would move in for the kill" at the first sign of weakness. Only two aspects of this brave medical memoir could be improved: the poetry ("Animals are thick with coat/ snakes shed their skin/ and crabs' shells soften") and the ending: Grady-Fitchett is a candidate for fetal transplant surgery later this year and readers will no doubt like to know.
