Book — Forward
This is the Forward found at the front of my new book — Rising Above Parkinson’s
Forward by John M. Dean, MA, CCC-SLP
This book is a fresh take on life with Parkinson’s from someone who knows how to leverage his support system and focus on the important things in life. Greg really takes time to “show his work”, breaking down key concepts into digestible components and providing tools for applying some of the best elements of his mindset to your own experience. Packed within all of this perspective is helpful information and tips, all based on the author’s personal experience living with Parkinson’s.
Knowing Greg’s professional background, it’s very interesting to see how his business acumen and related skills have managed to apply to the way he is going about his life after his diagnosis. As someone who has clearly had to manage a number of people, as well as sell and interact with a wide range of clients, he faced his first “Atomic Event” with a unique set of skills that immediately caught my attention.
Although Greg quickly became ensconced in all of the right habits, including regular vigorous exercise and a focus on diet and sleep hygiene, I think just as important was his strong relationship with his family and his community, including his church.
About this time last year, I was doing user testing on a project with some people living with Parkinson’s. I was working with a brilliant user experience specialist, Luke Waaler, who was donating his time and expertise to help our little startup. Greg came in near the end of the session and it quickly became clear that he and Greg knew each other. In fact, Greg and Luke were both mentoring for their church together when Luke first moved to Colorado a number of years ago. The two shared a couple of warm memories about that experience while Greg got ready to help us learn how to improve what we were building.
It was a nice little surprise that was actually not really that surprising given what I’ve come to know about Greg over the years. Here’s a man that works hard at everything he does, whether it’s at work, in his home or at his church. And he brings that same mindset to how he lives with his Parkinson’s. Now he’s put all of that work and all of those insights into the book you see before you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Take a look for yourself and see if he doesn’t change your perspective about a thing or two. I highly recommend this book!
— John M. Dean, MA, CCC-SLP
