EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — An El Paso woman with young-onset Parkinson’s disease is advocating for El Pasoans to vote ‘Yes’ for Proposition 14 on November’s ballot.
Proposition 14 is one of 17 proposed amendments that are being voted on to add to the Texas Constitution. The amendment would establish the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and allocate $3 billion from the state’s general fund for research into dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related diseases.
“In the grand scheme of things, with all of the millions of lives that are touched by dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, it’s really not that much. I believe it will make a real difference. It’s going to lead to breakthroughs because research and breakthroughs for one brain disease often lead to advances in others,” said Esther Labib-Kiyarash, an ambassador and research advocate for the Parkinson’s Foundation, and an El Paso resident.
As described by the Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time, for which there is no cure.
“I was really shocked when I got diagnosed with Parkinson’s to find out that there is no real treatment and there’s definitely not a cure,” Labib-Kiyarash said. “The medication we take just treats the symptoms. It doesn’t slow the progression at all. I got really upset and angry, and I thought to myself, ‘I want to put my energy into raising awareness about that and hopefully, raising involvement with research and funding, to get us to that place.’”
Labib-Kiyarash, 50, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s two years ago when she went to a doctor’s consultation about shoulder pain she was experiencing. The pain turned out to be one of her symptoms for Parkinson’s and she said her life was completely altered after that.
“I do have a tremor, which is pretty well controlled with medication. But after I got diagnosed, like I think happens with a lot of people when they experience something traumatic in their life, I sort of reassessed my priorities in my life and made a lot of changes. One of those was to no longer work outside the home anymore. I was very fortunate to be able to take a step back from my career, and now I stay home with my kids, which is amazing. And I do volunteer work and advocacy for Parkinson’s,” Labib-Kiyarash said.
Labib-Kiyarash has also gained a following across her social media platforms, which she names ‘Shaking in my Boots.’ Through her platforms, Labib-Kiyarash uses humor and creativity to inform her thousands of followers about Parkinson’s and how it affects people’s lives.
“I do appreciate people following me because the more people associate someone like me with Parkinson’s, the more it makes people understand that it can, in fact, happen to anyone, no matter what your age,” Labib-Kiyarash said. “I think specifically for Parkinson’s, because it doesn’t necessarily shorten our lifespan, that they think that we’re just kind of doing okay. And none of these diseases are easy diseases to live with. They are progressive, and they don’t end well for us.”
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