From Parkinson's to Melanoma: One awareness month to another
Out with the old. In with the new.
April is over. It's the end of "National Parkinson's Awareness Month." Thirty days to raise awareness and money to make the lives better for the more than ten million people suffering with the disease. Hopefully, the money raised will eventually lead to a cure.
So long P.D. Awareness. It was a great thirty days, but it's time to move on. We may be moving forward, but you will not be forgotten. Trust me, Parkinson's Disease is not just a once a year, thirty day thing. It's in our thoughts and in our bodies 24/7/365.
By the way, it's not just "Parkinson's Awareness Month" that we're leaving. The end has come for "Straw Hat Month", "Pecan Month", and "Soft Pretzel Month." Hmmm...I can easily picture a scene where I'm wearing a straw hat and having a pretzel with a piece of pecan pie. Okay, maybe not so easily, but I can imagine this.
By the way #2, besides Parkinson's Awareness, there are 69 other organizations, diseases, fruits, etc that have finished celebrating their month in April. Nice!
Today is May 1. A month with new things to be aware of. May has my favorite of all things awareness....ZOMBIES! Not the band, although it would be awesome if it was, but the actual creepy, undead, freaky, human corpse Zombies. I'm not sure why they need an awareness month, but it makes me happy that have one.
May also brings us "Date Your Mate Month" and "International Masturbation Month." Hmmm....you can combine those for an very interesting thirty-one days. Hey, don't blame me. Blame May!
But, May also brings us "Melanoma Awareness Month."
I take this one much more seriously. That's because more than seven thousand people will die of Melanoma this year. I take it more seriously because a couple of my friends have died from Melanoma. I know others who are survivors. I take it seriously because there's a connection between Parkinson's Disease and Melanoma...and I've had both.
Usually the way you get Melanoma is through too much unprotected sun or by the use of tanning beds. You can also attract Melanoma because of a lack of Vitamin D in your body. One of the lesser things known about Parkinson's is the possibility of a Vitamin D deficiency. There's your connection.
Is that the reason I was diagnosed with Melanoma four years ago? I have no idea. Neither did the doctors. The more likely cause is all the bad sunburns I received back in the olden days...before we knew about sunscreen and sun damage.
Either way, I think there's a nice symmetry to the way the two diseases are awareness connected. At least for me, it makes it easier to to celebrate them both. In my case, I think celebrate is the appropriate word because I'm still here to do that. Many others can't.
Goodbye, Parkinson's Awareness. Hello, Melanoma Awareness. Hello especially to Zombies. It's that "Time of the Season."
Related Post: John Havlicek and Parkinson's Disease-He live his life like his basketball career...understated
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