The former baseball star Kirk Gibson recently was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Last week, the major league National League MVP from 1988 told the media that he suffers from PD.
Gibson is 57 and he had one of the most memorable moments in major league baseball history in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series with the LA Dodgers. In that game, he had a pinch hit home run in the bottom of the 9th inning. He also won the World Series when he played with the Detroit Tigers in 1984.
Gibson was the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks for four years but was fired last year. He most recently has been calling Tigers games for a local radio station. However, the former star had been on hiatus for a few weeks as he was undergoing neurological tests.
Gibson is far from the only recent star to come down with PD. Some of the most well-known sufferers of the disease include Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, Linda Ronstadt, and Robin Williams, who committed suicide last year after he learned of his diagnosis.
According to the NIH, most patients usually are diagnosed with PD after the age of 60, but some do develop the disease younger. The disease tends to develop slowly, and today, many patients can live high quality lives for years after diagnosis. Medications and surgery are becoming more effective in controlling the worst symptoms of PD.
One of the most recent treatments involves deep brain stimulation. This procedure recently was approved by FDA and it involves electrodes being implanted in the brain.
One of the keys to controlling PD symptoms is to take your medications regularly. We offer several pill reminder products that can keep PD patients on track with their meds, such as our Reminder Rosie Personalized Voice Reminder Clock:
