Zuzana Szusciková
PARKINSON and EDI (SON) - two men who, unintentionally and unplanned, determine the direction of my life 🙂
My name is Zuzana, I am from Bratislava, I am 57 years old, and Mr. Parkinson jumped into my life without asking—quietly, stealthily. It was no blind date; little by little he was already climbing onto my back even during a time full of joyful anticipation, although I didn’t know about him yet, when I was preparing for the arrival of my second son, Edko.
He was truly longed for, together with his wonderful older brother, my first son Martin, who was thirteen at the time. In your mind, you have a vision: a baby, a toddler, a schoolchild, a teenager, a student… a young man—just like with Martin, who is now 33 years old and, unlike Edko, no longer needs my constant care.
However, Edi (son) came into the world 12 weeks early, which is extremely premature. You might think—what is a quarter of a year in a lifetime, one season. But for a new little human, it is a very important time that should be spent in the mother’s womb. Instead, Edi had to spend half a year in an incubator without his mother and with complications, during which we received a prognosis from the head doctor of the surgical ICU—someone who had seen and experienced a lot—that it would be better if he had not survived, because we would end up with a blind, immobile “case.”
As a loving mother, I did everything to make sure that this prognosis would not come true, and it was greatly helped by Edi’s will to live and his immense—almost unbelievable—ability to find joy in life despite many disabilities.
This our little-big man is the strongest motivation not to give up and not to allow Mr. Parkinson to take control of my body and mind.
Thanks to this motivation—and as they say, everything bad is good for something—thanks to the uninvited Mr. Parkinson, I have met a group of wonderful fellow fighters in our, for now, Don Quixote–like battle. We stick together, advise each other, share joy, and try to live life to the fullest for as long as possible.
Even my colleagues at work once remarked that ever since I’ve been with those “Parkinson people,” I’ve been more active than when I was healthy.
I believe in science, and I hope I will live to see the day when a way is found to treat this disease. Until then, I will do everything I can to remain self-sufficient despite Mr. Parkinson and to be able, for as long as possible, to take care of my forever second child.
God, my mother Katka—without whose help and support it would be much, much, much harder—my best son in the world, Martin, and my friends help me in this—AMEN 🙂