Ray Edwards was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease on September 22, 2011. He describes the initial shock, then how the diagnosis unexpectedly shifted his perspective, bringing greater empathy, urgency, and renewed purpose to his work.
Is there a moment that you can think of that when you went through that moment, it really changed everything for you?
Yeah. This has something to do with it. About, well, it was exactly September 22nd, 2011, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And the first reaction was shock, but I knew that my life had changed in an instant. What I didn't realize was it would be for the better. Things like this we think happen to us.
Right.
But I have a core belief that life doesn't happen to us, it happens for us. And it's hard when you are hit with news like that to realize, well, how is this for me? But I've learned over those few years that have passed between— since then that it has been for me. It's given me more empathy. It's given me more insight into other people's problems. It's given me the ability to see that everybody is carrying some kind of burden. But probably most importantly, I realized after the initial shock that we all have a terminal diagnosis from a sexually transmitted disease called life. And I just am more aware of mine than a lot of people are. And so I'm grateful for that awareness. And interestingly enough, since that diagnosis, it's given me a sense of urgency. And it's given me the pull of purpose, like realizing I need to be doing things that are important to me now because I don't know what tomorrow holds.
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