Attitude is Everything

For my fourth neuro note, I decided to do something a little different! Normally, I watch a movie/documentary and write a brief discussion about it. This time around, I decided to read an article. Not just any article though, my goal was to take a closer look into a celebrity who has a neurological disorder. I wanted to gain an insight on how someone with “status and wealth” deals with their condition. The article I read was on Muhammad Ali and his battle with Parkinson’s disease.

In the article Attitude is Everything, Muhammad Ali’s oldest daughter Maryum shares memories of her father and how Parkinson’s disease affected him and their family. Muhammad Ali was a well-known boxer who battled with Parkinson’s disease for nearly three decades before his death. In the article, she speaks about the things her father enjoyed doing. She also stressed that it was important that the entire family understood the disease, and how it made everyone happier because of gained knowledge about it. “The diagnosis doesn’t mean that life is over,” is a phase that the family would often live by to ensure their father was living his best life. In addition, Maryum shares how many doctors misdiagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease at first because he was a boxer. Doctors suggested that, “he was a boxer and he had Parkinson’s syndrome and it wouldn’t get worse.”

As an occupational therapy student, this article was interesting because Maryum would often speak about how it is important to be engaged in what makes you happy. Their family made it their goal to keep Ali engaged in books, Western movies, and conversation – things that were important to him! Our job as occupational therapy practitioners are to help individuals engage in meaningful activities.  I like how they continued to treat him regular to lift his spirit. This just goes to show that people with Parkinson’s disease want to be treated just like they were before the diagnosis! Therefore, it is important that as we treat our clients with PD with have them engaged in acitivties that are important to them and also treat them equally. In addition, the article gave me an insight of a family’s role with a love one with the disease. Maryum made sure that their attitude was positive! Due to this, their attitude took them a long way when caring for their father.

To further my knowledge, I read more into Muhammad Ali’s life before and after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I recommend this article to anyone who is a fan of Muhammad Ali, health care professionals, and also family members of someone who has the condition. I highly recommend it to family members who care for a love one with PD because they might be able to adjust/ learn from Ali’s family.

Herbst, Diane. (2016). Muhammad Ali’s eldest daughter shares memories of her dad and hope for   those with Parkinson’s: ‘Attitude is everything’. People Celebrity. Retrieved from    http://people.com/celebrity/muhammad-alis-eldest-daughter-maryum-shares-memories/