Lisa hosts a high tea for Parkinson’s
Thursday, 12th July 2018

Our Shake It Up hero this week Lisa Sanzogni -Barron.  Lisa’s Dad resides in the USA and lives with Parkinson’s.  With Lisa living in Australia, she wanted to show her support and do her bit to help find a cure.  One day she was driving to work and heard our founder Clyde Campbell on the radio talking about our Pause 4 Parkinson’s fundraiser.  She just kept hearing this inner voice saying “You can do something small”.  Lisa hosted a high tea in her backyard and raised $1500 for research.

What Drives Your Commitment to find a cure for Parkinson’s?

My Dad Luciano lives with Parkinsons’s and also has dementia which is challenging for my mom who is his full-time carer.

Why Shake It Up Australia?

I heard about the Pause 4 Parkinson’s fundraiser on 98.5 Sunshine FM and how it was the Australian wing of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.  I was driving for work and had spoken to my mom earlier that morning in the USA who had said my dad had a horrid evening, anxiety, mobility issues etc and as always she put one of the back to the future movies on which calmed him down. They were always among his favourite movies.

There was just an inner voice saying, “you can do something small”

Tell us what you are doing/did to Shake Things Up?

I decided on the high tea for Luciano ….. ladies only …. men welcome but they all served coffee, tea, champagne etc.

Greatest Reward

I was thrilled as a few local businesses I frequent weekly donated baked goods and other treats and a few close friends baked too.

Best advice for people looking to Shake It Up?

In all, it was a great back garden afternoon …. with laughs amidst the serious tone of why we were all there. I raffled off a few items with trivia on Parkinson’s and we also spoke about important aspects of the disease … my dad has it paired with dementia which is challenging for my mom who is the carer with limited support.

I had friends and family from South Africa, Italy and the USA donate to dads fundraising effort and was thrilled with the response.

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