World Parkinson Congress Day 2 – WPC2019 | 12
I am in Kyoto, Japan for the 5th World Parkinson Congress (WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson’s event, which is held every three years and it opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson’s community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.
Joy Milne of Perth, Scotland fell in love with Les Milne when they were 16 years old. They married, had three kids, he was a doctor and she was a nurse. They lived a good life. Sometime in their 30’s, Joy noticed her husband started to smell different; more musky and unpleasant. She didn’t realize at the time she was smelling Parkinson’s. It was twelve years later, her husband was diagnosed at the age of 45. Over the years, while attending support groups and other functions she realized other people with Parkinson’s had a scent like her husband’s. Nearly two decades on, she began to ask why no one was using the smell of Parkinson’s as a bio marker.
The answer? No one else seemed to have noticed.
After testing her over and over again. Science won out. It turns out Joy can smell the over production of sebum. Her work is detailed on a poster at World Parkinson Congress titled “Parkinson’s smell levels, symptom management and empowerment; when Joy met Allison.” In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s, Milne and Allison Williams talk about how Joy’s ability to smell different levels of Parkinson’s has empowered Allison and improved her PD symptoms.
Joy Milne also joins 50-year old Matt Eagles, who has had Parkinson’s since age 7, and Jonny Acheson who is three years passed diagnosis to chat about what they’ve learned at day two of the WPC. From patient advocacy, the importance of care partners and important discussions around compulsive behavior side effects of certain drugs to the absolute shock one gets when he first uses a Japanese toilet.
Geneticist Matt Farrer of UBC and Yoshio Tsuboi, M.D., Ph.D. of Fukuoka University provide an interesting peek inside the complicated world of genetic research. They share what they believe is their next most promising result they have for treating Parkinson’s based on genetics.
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For more info on the World Parkinson Congress head to www.WPC2019.org
Facebook: Facebook.com/WorldPDCongress/
Twitter: @WorldPDCongress
YouTube: WorldPDcongress
Instagram: @worldpdcongress
Thank you to:
Joy Milne, Allison Williams, Matt Eagles of https://parkylife.com/, Jonny Acheson, Matt Farrer, and Dr. Yoshio Tsuboi.
