Our hero this week is Amy who hosted a live music event “Shaky Sounds” to support her Dad who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Amy watched as Dad went from being Dad, a person that you go to for advice, to look after you because he’s your dad, to an old man that I very suddenly had to look after and barely recognised. Parkinson’s so much more than just the shakes.
What Drives Your Commitment to find a cure for Parkinson’s?
My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2009. It was a shock. I didn’t really know what it was except that it gave people the shakes. I soon learnt that it was so much more. Over the next few years we watched as Parkinson’s slowly but surely took control of Dad. We watched on as he started to not be able to make his hands do what he wanted them to on the TV remote, as he began shuffling because he couldn’t pick his feet up properly anymore, as his memory started to fade, as he became depressed and in his final days when he lay in his hospital bed in the front room at Mum’s place, as the Dementia took hold and he was off down to the pub that he apparently owned (not sure if that was the Dementia or possibly a life long dream). We watched as Dad went from being Dad, a person that you go to for advice, to look after you because he’s your dad, to an old man that I very suddenly had to look after and barely recognised. Parkinson’s so much more than just the shakes.
Why Shake It Up Australia?
Our main reason for choosing Shake It Up Australia is because 100% of donations go towards finding not only a cure, but also better treatments.
Tell us what you are doing/did to Shake Things Up?
To Shake things up we organised a live music event ‘Shaky Sounds’. There is not as much live music in Sydney as there used to be, so we wanted to not only support a fantastic charity but also help to promote the live music scene. Our motto was mates playing for mates. It was all about friends and friends of friends coming together to enjoy live music and raise as much money as we could. We had 5 music acts performing throughout the day to a sold out venue of 140 people. We also had a raffle running throughout the event with fantastic prizes donated by local companies in and around Sydney. We managed to raise a total of $5,561.65, which smashed our target of $3,000
Greatest Reward
The success of the event, hearing how it helped people to understand a bit more about Parkinson’s, raising the amount of money we did and seeing how much fun everyone had was all incredibly rewarding. It’s too hard to pick just one!
Best advice for people looking to Shake It Up?
Do something you love and throw your all into it!
