Dad is helping others and raising vital funds after Parkinson’s diagnosis
A DAD was quickly diagnosed with a debilitating disease when he noticed he couldn’t taste or smell anything.
David Riley went to the doctors after noticing he was losing his taste and smell before his left hand began to shake.
Doctors quickly diagnosed him with Parkinson’s and, soon after, his mobility began to suffer with him then “shuffling” his feet rather than walking one foot in front of another.
The now 79-year-old said: “About eight years ago I was diagnosed. The symptoms I had were that I lost my sense of taste and smell, and I can’t write anymore.
“I have to shuffle, you can’t pick your feet up, you just shuffle them. It’s frightening. But people now come to me to talk to me about their symptoms and you quickly realise that people are worse off than you. I’m one of the lucky ones, a lot of people end up in wheelchairs as a result of the disease.
“I went to the doctors and my left hand was shaking. They said that they thought I had Parkinson’s.
“I didn’t really know what it was at the time and a lot of people still don’t know either.
“I went to The Walton Centre and they confirmed it. I’m on about 37 tablets a day.”
David, who was born in Teesside before moving to Southport when he was 15, is now raising money for Parkinson’s UK, with a number of local businesses holding raffles and charity nights.
He also wrote a song outlining his symptoms to raise awareness about the disease, with him claiming to have never shown an interest in music until the last few months.
The dad-of-three said: “We’re doing a Parkinson’s night at Bijou Cinema in Southport where we’ll be watching the most recent Elvis film. All money is going towards Parkinson’s UK.
“The people at the Imperial are also doing a raffle with all the proceeds going to the charity.
“I’ve raised £2,500 already and I’m hoping by the end of next month I will have raised £10,000.”