USA TODAY International Edition
America, you can help us prevent Parkinson’s disease
When you can predict who’s going to get a disease, you’ve started down the path to preventing it
If I told you a simple action you take today could change everything about how Parkinson’s disease is diagnosed, managed and treated – not decades from now, but in the near future – would you do it?
I don’t mean giving money. ( Though that helps, too. Research is unbelievably expensive.)
And I’m not talking just to the people who, like me, are living with Parkinson’s disease.
On Thursday, The Michael J. Fox Foundation and a “who’s- who” of Parkinson’s researchers are announcing a clinical study that promises to rewrite the future of Parkinson’s disease and to generate breakthroughs that could impact other major brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, too. I’m asking you ( yes, you) to be part of it.
The Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative was launched in 2010. Since then, PPMI has studied 1,400 people like you, with and without Parkinson’s disease, in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Anonymous test results
These heroes are giving qualified scientists access to their anonymous clinical information, including test results and brain scans, to hunt down patterns and details that have already contributed significantly to a better understanding of Parkinson’s. More than 250 scientific papers based on PPMI data have been published, and researchers around the world access this data for independent studies.
Now the study is entering a new stage – bringing us much closer to the ability to predict who might get Parkinson’s before symptoms ever show up. When you can predict who’s going to get a disease, you’ve already started down the path to preventing it.
And this is where you come in. We’re on a mission to solidify our early understanding of who’s at risk for Parkinson’s, who gets it, who doesn’t and why. But this requires a new level of public participation – 100,000 people – to help researchers build on what’s known about the early signs of Parkinson’s, ones that we’ve observed but haven’t yet pinpointed scientifically.
For example, did you know that people who act out their dreams while sleeping might be more likely to develop Parkinson’s?
PPMI has helped scientists zero in on this discovery. This kind of finding can give us a critical window into processes taking place in the brain and body cells of people who don’t have Parkinson’s today but might be at risk to get it. And that could move us closer to new and better treatments for the disease – or even preventing it altogether.
Participating in the study is simple. For most people, it’s as easy as filling out questionnaires online every few months. The longer you keep doing it, the more your profile can offer to research on Parkinson’s.
And because privacy is critical, we’ve taken every step to safeguard the personal data you share with researchers.
When I was diagnosed
There was no PPMI when I was diagnosed in 1991. The doctor told me I had Parkinson’s and 10 years left to work, all in the same sentence. ( He was wrong about that second part.)
I’m sure he wished there were some treatment that would have stopped the disease process right then and there, so I could move on with my life and never think about Parkinson’s again.
With your help, that’s where PPMI is headed.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation has been at this work for 21 years. To patients, including me, that feels like a long time, but in scientific terms it’s the blink of an eye. It’s why we need to stay focused on the day we find a cure. With your help, we’ll get there. Until then, we’re persistent, we’re problem- solvers and we’re optimistic – and grateful to you for being part of it.
Michael J. Fox is the founder of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. He also is the author of “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality.”