Below is the full video from the Mental Health & Parkinson’s Disease Virtual Conference on May 1, 2021.
Thank you to our sponsors, Amneal, Abbvie and Moda Health, and to all of the generous donations that help support BGF programs.
Jimmy Choi, American Ninja Warrior, did a series of 15-minute Parkinson’s exercise routines that is fun and rewarding. Watch the videos below anytime to level up your workout!
The Blazers said, “Brian is such an incredible ambassador not only for our organization, but for the community and we whole heartedly believe he deserves this honor.”
The Blazers Hometown Hero goal is to “celebrate individuals and their families for the sacrifice and service they have provided our communities”.
Watch the video that was played April 3, 2021 during the Blazers home game television broadcast.
This Miso Salmon with Thai Slaw, brought to you by Chef Kenny James, personal chef to Blazers greats Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, meets so many of our recommendations listed in our nutrition for Parkinson’s guide to support gut health. Look for pre-cut veggies to make this dish even easier to prepare.
Salmon
1/2 pound of salmon
Marinade
1 cup miso
1 cup mirin
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup Coconut Brown Sugar
Slaw
1/4 head of red cabbage
2 stalks celery
1 Leek
1/2 head of broccoli
1/2 red bell pepper
2 mandarin oranges
1 carrot
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
Watch the video below as Chef Kenny takes you through a step-by-step process on how to prepare this tasty dish.
Watch Video
This recipe and cooking demo is presented by Chef Kenny and sponsored Amneal!
Portland, Ore. (Mar. 15, 2021) – Brian Grant Foundation (BGF) is hosting a series of events focused on building teams to improve the quality of life for people living with Parkinson’s disease. The events kick off in April for Parkinson’s Awareness Month, leading up to a livestream gala with BGF’s founder, Brian Grant, on May 12, 2021 at 6pm PST.
Online events in April for Parkinson’s Awareness Month presented by Amneal, include weekly “Motivational Monday” workouts and an “Expert Q&A” webcast focused on building a Parkinson’s healthcare team. The workouts, led by American Ninja Warrior Jimmy Choi, will stream on BGF’s social media channels every Monday in April at 9am PST. The Expert Q&A is Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 12pm PST with Suketu Khandhar, MD, Movement Disorder Specialist at Northern California, Kaiser Permanente.
To further highlight teamwork, on April 6, 2021 Brian Grant releases a new memoir titled Rebound: Soaring in the NBA, Battling Parkinson’s and Finding What Really Matters. In Rebound, Grant shares his remarkable life before, during, and after the NBA, including his Parkinson’s diagnosis at 36 years old.
In May, the online events include a Mental Health and Parkinson’s Disease Virtual Conference on Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 8:30am PST and an Expert Q&A focused on building a team at work and overcoming employment challenges on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 12pm PST with vocational rehabilitation counselors from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
BGF’s teambuilding events lead up to a livestream “Shake It Till We Make It” gala with founder Brian Grant, who is living with Parkinson’s. The virtual gala includes members of Brian’s team, both during his 12-year NBA career and on his journey with Parkinson’s. The virtual gala is May 12, 2021 at 6pm PST and benefits BGF’s efforts to improve the well-being of people with Parkinson’s.
Registration for all BGF events is free but required. Visit briangrant.org/events to learn more.
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ABOUT BRIAN GRANT FOUNDATION
BGF provides tools to improve the well-being of people with Parkinson’s. BGF was founded in 2010 by former NBA player Brian Grant, who is living with the disease. Learn more at briangrant.org.
Whether it is supporting her career and commitments, helping her evaluate relationships with friends and family, or contributing to the greater PD community. Here I discuss the different ways I find it important to advocate for my mother and how I may go about doing that.
With family and friends
Your parent’s most immediate circle of family and friends are likely going to be their greatest support network and may very well be acting as advocates for them as well. This being said, there is certainly still a meaningful role you as their child can play in terms of advocating for your parent’s wishes and best interests within this circle. For example, establishing this system as strong and well organized will ensure that your parent with Parkinson’s needs are being consistently met, be it physical challenges or emotional struggles. Additionally, your parent may not feel comfortable communicating certain details or symptoms with less immediate members of their support circle. As their child they may feel more secure discussing these issues with you or other family members and through thorough conversation you may come to the conclusion together as to how other loved-ones can be involved.
>With their care
Whether your parent is newly diagnosed or has been navigating PD for decades, planning their medical care alongside their physician can be challenging, confusing, and tiring. Discussing what role you can play in their care with your parent and their physician can help create a clearer path for you and your parent. This may include attending their medical appointments to provide encouragement and another set of ears listening to the doctor’s orders or talking through what the most appropriate form of care will look like for them (Do they need additional healthcare support? Who will be their main caretaker? What will your role look like as their child? – these are all things that should be considered and explored with your parent and perhaps their healthcare provider). Furthermore, you may want to seek out resources in your community, such as patient support groups, safe and enjoyable exercise classes, or events put on by organizations in your community – all of which can be great supplements to medical treatment.
With their career and commitments
As with any progressive condition, your parent with Parkinson’s may need to continuously be reflecting on their commitments, be it career, hobbies, or activities, and adapting their undertakings to their ever-changing situation. I have found that facilitating and encouraging discussion of this reflection with my mother to be a great way for me to better understand where she is at with her condition and how I can advocate for her as she adjusts and customizes her schedules. It is also important to consider the balance between advocating for you parent’s physical needs with their emotional and mental strength and resilience. I know I have found myself trying to convince my mother to turn down opportunities when I think her plate is too full or that she should stay in on a night it seems like she may be “off”. However, over time I have come to understand that advocating for her as a person with Parkinson’s also includes advocating for and echoing her mental fortitude, and supporting her in the endeavors important to her .
With the PD advocacy community
As the child of a person with Parkinson’s, I have often found myself deep in feelings of helplessness with regards to my mother’s condition, overall wellbeing, and future. One way I can mitigate this has been by advocating within the greater Parkinson’s community. From my experience, the easiest way to start is simply by seeking out educational resources about Parkinson’s that can be found online from a variety of organizations. The more well-informed you are on the disease and how it can affect both yours and your parent’s lives, the better you will be as an advocate in the PD community. Further, this may look different to everyone. You may want to get involved with a fundraiser and donate your money or time to a Parkinson’s-related charity. Perhaps to you advocacy looks like spreading awareness for the disease. I have found that as I further entrench in the PD community, I have a better understanding on my mother’s experiences, and it has brought us together and acted as a way to start conversations on her disease (something that can all too easily become a taboo or sensitive topic), and ultimately it allows me to show the care and respect I have for her.
By Neha Mathur, who is pictured above wearing a white dress with her mother, Soania and two sisters.
Read Neha’s other article contributions as part of our Kids of Parkinson’s program here:
Portland, Ore. (Feb. 3, 2021) – To celebrate National Nutrition Month in March, the Brian Grant Foundation (BGF) is hosting online events to promote healthy eating for people with Parkinson’s. The events will feature Dr. Bethany Tennant, naturopathic physician and certified nutrition specialist, and Chef Kenny James, personal chef to Blazer greats Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, who will provide practical tips and recipes to help people with Parkinson’s gain the benefits of a nutritious diet that aligns with the healthy eating guidelines developed by BGF.
On Tuesday, March 9 at 12 pm PST, Dr. Tennant presents Gut Health and Parkinson’s as part of BGF’s online Expert Q&A series. Digestive issues are common in Parkinson’s and can lead to problems like constipation. The microbiome, composed of all the bacteria that live in the gut, has also been implicated in the pathology of the disease. Dr. Tennant will talk specifically about foods that support gut health to help improve Parkinson’s symptoms.
After the Expert Q&A, Chef Kenny will demonstrate a recipe that includes ingredients that specifically address gut health and Parkinson’s. He will also appear live on BGF’s Instagram that week to talk about the recipe and take questions from the audience.
To learn more and register for BGF’s online events visit briangrant.org/events.
Research suggests that the staples of a Mediterranean diet – vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, fish, olive oil and nuts and seeds – may have health benefits for people with Parkinson’s. Though there is no cure for Parkinson’s, research has shown that healthy eating, combined with exercise and social connections are important for managing the condition and improving quality of life with the disease.
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ABOUT BRIAN GRANT FOUNDATION
Brian Grant Foundation provides tools to improve the well-being of people with Parkinson’s. BGF was founded in 2010 by former NBA player Brian Grant, who is living with the disease. Learn more about BGF’s programs at www.briangrant.org.
Check out the story from KPTV Fox 12 Oregon about the Kids of Parkinson’s program.
My story
My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease before I was even born, so growing up it was simply a part of our every-day lives. This being said, it is a progressive illness and as I got older and moved into young adulthood I began to see her condition in a different light as she gracefully adapted to the unrelenting challenges PD poses. I was now finding myself with more questions than ever before: what will her future look like with a neurodegenerative disease? How can we as her family support her and find resources to aid with PD’s many symptoms and consequences? Will my sisters and I be affected?
Where to start
The first thing to remember is that they are still the same person. You both may have to adapt certain aspects of your lives along the way, but ultimately you are still their child and they are your parent and this unique bond will continue to remain true. Next, focusing on positive and mindful communication will be key in navigating a disease that brings such uncertainty to your current lives and future (see my blog post titled “Communicating with a Parent with PD” for more details). With this in mind, perhaps placing emphasis on reflection and your questions will guide your next steps. I find it helpful to keep a running list of questions and concerns that pop into my mind and periodically go through them and figure out where to best look for answers. Sometimes a simple conversation with my mother may clear up some of the more individual concerns, or maybe I can look it up online and seek credible information if it relates to the disease itself or broader issues. If there are questions that may be better answered by a physician, say they are about my mother’s specific condition, then I might ask my mother if I can join her at her next appointment and discuss my inquiries with her and her doctor. I believe this technique allows me to clearly outline my thoughts and feelings, forcing me to continuously reflect, and provides clear actionable steps to seeking knowledge from the most relevant resources.
Building your life with a parent with PD
Though a PD diagnosis of a loved-one sometimes feels like it can turn life upside-down, it is important to remember that it doesn’t have to, instead you may simply need to adjust certain aspects of your already well established routines and relationship. One area of life this is especially applicable may be the activities and hobbies you enjoy doing with your parent, you don’t have to throw away all your favorite pastimes, perhaps they need only be refashioned to better suit your parent’s situation at this point in time. For example, we like to go hiking as a family, so when my mother is joining us all we have to do is go to trails with less elevation and a cleared or paved pathway, and check the weather to make sure it’s not too cold, snowy, or icy. If you enjoy working out together, maybe you just need to seek out lower impact activities or even exercise classes that are tailored to PD or movement disorder patients. On game nights we still pull out our family’s favorites even though we may have to shuffle and deal playing cards for her or roll the dice and move pieces on the game board. If your parent is an avid reader, try starting a small book club and if necessary seek out audiobooks or ebooks to remove any barriers that holding a physical copy for extended periods of time or trying to flip flimsy, thin pages may pose. These are just some examples of the many ways you can adapt your favorite activities for your parent with Parkinson’s and enjoy them just as you always have.
Written by Neha Mathur, who is pictured with her mother, Soania, above.