Amazingly Amazed, Despite Parkinsons Disease Symptoms!

16 Dec 2011 by Chris Boughton

The 15th of December was my last day at college until 23rd January, so the first semester is now finished. I have had my first two essays returned, with feedback and grades, and to my amazement the grades on both were very good, and in fact way ahead of my expectations. The feedback was also good and I cannot emphasise enough what a huge relief this is to me. It is nearly 40 years since I last carried out any serious academic studying and to say I was apprehensive would be an understatement. The impact the essay feedback has had on my morale has truly been huge even though I know there is a long way to go and I am certainly not now feeling complacent. In fact, realistically my Parkinson's disease (PD) may ultimately not let me finish the degree but however far I get I will always give my absolute best efforts. At 58 years of age and over 10 years since Parkinsons disease symptoms first appeared, the degree was never going to be a spring board to a glorious new career anyway. But I love the challenges it presents, the learning process and the interaction with the other students.

In fact, the sense of relief has been so huge that I searched my memory banks for the last time I experienced similar emotions. This took me back 28 years to my first group conference. At the time I was the Production Manager of an engineering company and half way through a 6 month trial period to hopefully be promoted to Production Director. The annual group conference brought together all the directors from all the group's companies for an annual review. There were about 40 of us; 39 seasoned executives and me – the young pretender. We all had to give a 15 minute presentation on the area of the business that we managed. This was pre-PowerPoint so there was nothing but a distance flip chart to distract the audience and all eyes were firmly fixed on each presenter in turn. To significantly add to the terror of it all the Group Chairman was a dominant character who sat at the front closely beside where we were presenting, like a judge holding court at a trial. He also had a series of three lights set up to ensure that no one overran their allotted time; green meant you had 2 minutes left, orange 30 seconds and red meant stop immediately. Being the new boy I was on stage last having witnessed two long days of this intimidating process. Anyone who got the orange light promptly lost the plot and either stopped mid-sentence, to avoid the dreaded red light, or stumbled on towards an inevitable red light grave.

So here lay my career in the balance. Perform well and my appointment to Production Director and a place on the Board was assured. A poor performance and my career would hit a massive wall. My ability to provide for my young family was on the line. This was pressure like I had never experienced before. But somehow I got through my presentation without stumbling and with no red light, although it all seemed a blur when I had finished. However, I must have found inspiration from somewhere because I won the prize for the best presentation of the whole conference. The new boy on the block had truly arrived and in so doing passed the most brutal of corporate tests. I was appointed to the Board of Directors the following day. It wasn't about ego or personal achievement; it was all about total relief – the same relief that I experienced when I got those first two essays back. If anything the essay results were the greater of the two achievements as I did not have Parkinsons disease symptoms accompanying me at that conference all those years ago.

I did however do my best to mess it all up at the prize presentation. The prize came in a very large box which was surprisingly light. My initial naïve thought was that maybe there was a large cheque inside. I was encouraged to open the box on the stage which I did only to discover a book about management strategy. My obvious disappointment set my tongue in motion way ahead of my brain and I blurted out something like “is this it?” Euphoria turned to horror in a split second. Later that evening the Chairman’s PA was despatched to take me aside and make me very aware of the Chairman’s extreme displeasure at my inappropriate comments. Thankfully I survived the hiccup and I still ended up becoming the youngest member of the company’s Board of Directors, but I had much to learn.

Chris

About the Author

Chris Boughton
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in February 2004 at the age of 51 having experienced undiagnosed symptoms for at least 4 years prior to that. My wife and I have five adult children and three grandchildren. We are fortunate in that we live in a lovely rural part of the east of England, with King’s Forest situated nearby for my much needed, therapeutic dog walks. I spent most of my working life involved in electronic, mechanical manufacturing management within the Worldwide Broadcasting industry and I am extremely lucky to have travelled extensively through my work. Since I was diagnosed I have dedicated much of my time to researching all aspects of PD and trying to both support others with this illness and raise the profile of PD. As well as writing a blog on this website, I administer an internet patient forum for people with PD which I set up in September 2008 and it currently has over 150 members. I also administer the forum’s Facebook, Friends Reunited and Twitter pages. My younger son recently ran in a half marathon race to raise funds for the Cure Parkinson’s Trust. I am currently studying for a BA (Hons) in English and History as a mature student.