April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month.
A red tulip is used as a symbol of hope and strength, for those living with the disease.
It is also the theme of a small book, with a big heart.
“The Little Parkinson’s Book of Positivity and Joy” was written by Westport Weston Family YMCA member Kathleen Featherston. It was featured on the Michael J. Fox Foundation website, and will be showcased next month at the World Parkinson’s Congress in Phoenix.
It describes her deeply personal, inspiring journey through life with Parkinson’s. It’s one not of despair, but resilience, grace, and a profound appreciation for life’s simplest blessings.
Kathleen Featherston, with her book.
Kathleen’s diagnosis in 2021 changed her life. But instead of retreating into fear and uncertainty, she made a choice to look up.
She laced up boxing gloves — literally — at the Westport Y. Their Parkinson’s program includes boxing, dance and speech classes.
Kathleen discovered that physical movement could be both medicine and metaphor. Each punch thrown, each round survived, was a declaration: “I am still here. I am still fighting. I am still full of joy.”
Kathleen Featherston fights against Parkinson’s.
From that spirit, her book was born. It is not a clinical guide or a sympathy card. Instead, it is “a companion — a tiny book full of enormous light, for anyone who needs a reminder that joy waits in the small moments.”
“The Little Parkinson’s Book of Positivity and Joy” can be purchased on Kathleen’s website, Amazon, The Post (1799 Post Road East) and CoCo & Company in Southport.
All proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and Parkinson’s Body and Mind — a local non-profit that has partnered with the Westport Y’s Parkinson’s program.
The Y and Parkinson’s Body & Mind are teaming up once again for the Michael J. Fox Unity Walk in New York, April 25.
Contact the Y to join the walk, and raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. (Hat tip: Bob Levy)
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