Jo-Ann

When I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1997 at the age of 57, I vowed that my experience of the disease would not be the same as that of my father. He was diagnosed at 72, sat in a chair, and became more and more incapacitated as time went on.

Instead, I took my health into my own hands and, for the first time in my life, started to exercise. I figured that if I could make my muscles strong enough, Parkinson's wouldn't make them too fragile. For the past six years, I've been a fixture at my gym five days a week, combining aerobics classes with weight lifting and flexibility exercises.

I can balance myself on the balance ball which I couldn't do when I started, and my age on a fitness scale is 57, even though chronologically I'm 10 years older.

An extra plus has been working out with my husband. He's been exercising for the past 51 years but never could get me to join him!

As well as exercising, I've taken control of my health care, switching to a movement disorder specialist who has helped me find the right medication, which doesn't give me dyskinesia. At one time my writing got so small that I didn't recognize it, and I couldn't brush my teeth. But finding the right medication has changed all that.

You just can't give up. I vowed that Parkinson's wasn't going to get me down, and so far it hasn't!