Parkinson's Victoria's highest honour, the Sir Zelman Cowen Award is presented to an individual in recognition of their invaluable voluntary contribution to the Parkinson’s community.
Parkinson’s Victoria chief executive Emma Collin said Mrs Anderson had been a “strong advocate locally”.
“She has been prompting Parkinson’s awareness — with a determination to break down barriers and reach more people in need,” she said.
The award was presented via Zoom on Thursday, November 25, and Mrs Anderson said receiving the award was an honour, along with seeing how her work had affected other peoples’ views on life with Parkinson’s disease.
Christine Anderson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012, a revelation she thought would mean her “life was over”.
The neurodegenerative disorder affects movement, with the severity of symptoms differing for each person due to the diversity of the disease.
But, nine years on, Mrs Anderson has discovered a new perspective on life with the disease, spurred on by her father, who also had the disease.
“We have to teach those with Parkinson’s how to speak for themselves, because we sort of lose our own abilities,” she said.
She now works to spread awareness and support others by embracing her journey with humour and a realistic approach.
“Because people with Parkinson’s don’t have dopamine, I’ve got a perfectly good brain, but apparently the body just doesn't communicate because I haven't got the dopamine,” she said.
“Perfect health is over-rated, you can do a lot of things with Parkinson’s.”
And that she has done, founding Kyabram’s Peer Support Group eight years ago (now with over 20 members), Mrs Anderson has also been an ambassador for Parkinson’s Victoria events and was the face of the organisation’s 2019 mid-year appeal.
Parkinson’s Victoria hosts 27forParkinson’s each year, a challenge dedicated to supporting the 27,000 people in Victoria living with the disease.
As part of the challenge, participants could choose one of three options to do each day: be active, be connected or make change.
Mrs Anderson unknowingly signed up for all three when she began writing about her life each day for the challenge on the Supporting Parkinson’s Victoria Facebook Group.
“When you get the diagnosis, you think ‘oh my life is over’,” she said.
“So I was putting things on that gave a different aspect of living with Parkinson’s, how it affected me and how I deal with it.
“I wanted to be able to bring humour to it, we want people to know more about Parkinson's but people don't get how to tell others; if you make it short and humorous, then you can get the message out there.”
The 27 days showed the realistic highs and lows of Mrs Anderson’s life, purposely leaving out no gritty details and emphasising her “brutal honesty”, as her kids would say.
Her words of hope and realism inspired others and gradually built a following in the group.
“I was amazed, there was 600 people in the group and so many of them ‘parki’s’ and carers or people who just knew someone, were really positive and encouraging about things that I was writing,“ she said.
“Which only made it worse because I just got more open.“
Mrs Anderson’s open nature has led her to many opportunities, including co-hosting a virtual intimacy presentation with Parkinson’s Victoria.
On her final day of the challenge, Mrs Anderson thanked the group with a gentle reminder.
“A diagnosis of Parkinson’s does not mean your life is over, the next chapter may be more challenging but can also be more meaningful and fulfilling,” she wrote.
“Salvador Dali had Parkinson’s, so let’s take his inspiration and look at Parkinson’s from a completely different perspective.
“Whatever happens, we can always say, ‘sorry about that, I’ve got Parkinson’s’.”
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