WPC Opening Ceremonies III

Rhona Johnson, one of PDF's WPC reporters and member of our People with Parkinson's Advisory Council, would like to follow-up on previous posts discussing last night's WPC Opening Ceremonies. Rhona and others communicated that they were particularly moved at the ceremonies by the words of Bryn Williams, founder of WobblyWilliams.com.

Here's Rhona's report:

"At the Opening Ceremonies last night, Bryn Williams, Founder of WobbyWilliams.com spoke eloquently of how PD impacts people living with the disease, their families, friends and carers. He issued an urgent challenge to them all the work for a cure, saying,

'Neurologists cannot do it alone. We cannot do it alone. People with Parkinson's are part of the solution.'

He urged us to work tirelessly and energetically to advocate and educate to find a cure."

What Do You Think?
If you have questions or comments for Rhona about her post, please click "Comment" or "Post a Comment" below.

WPC Day One

The first day of the 2nd World Parkinson Congress has begun. Scientific sessions are already underway and we hope to have some reports for you later today.

Who else is reporting on the WPC? Several other community members, including some of our very own reporters, are blogging all week long as well. We'll post some of these blogs below and start a new WPC Blogroll at right.

Do you know of others?

• Kate: CRLI graduate Kate has a wonderful story up about how she came to the WPC.
• Jackie: CRLI graduate Jackie is already blogging about her experience at the exhibits yesterday.
• Sharon: This PDF quilter is blogging about her trip to Scotland.

Learn More:

What is the CRLI? Visit PDF's site to find out.

WPC Haiku from Renee

As we kick off the first full day of sessions of the 2nd World Parkinson Congress, we'd like to share (a bit belatedly so) a lovely Haiku emailed to us yesterday by Renee LeVerrier, as she waited for the opening ceremonies to begin

Pre-Congress Haiku

Cloudy sky, Glasgow fog
Cannot dampen spirits or
Clarity we seek

Renee is one of our WPC reporters and a graduate of PDF's Clinical Research Learning Institute. Later today, Renee is presenting a poster entitled, "Yoga Teacher Training for Students with Parkinson's Disease."

Learn More:

If you'd like to learn more about Renee and our other WPC reporters:

• Read their bios here

If you're interested in other creative works by people living with Parkinson's

• See PDF's Creativity and Parkinson's site
• Browse the Sharing Stories project

WPC Opening Ceremonies Part II

Last night's opening ceremonies of the 2nd World Parkinson Congress included not only inspirational words, but also action...in the form of the newly-announced Global Parkinson's Pledge.

With just one click, you can make your voice heard and help to make Parkinson's a priority around the world. The final two lines of the Global Parkinson's Pledge speak to its purpose:

"Furthermore, we celebrate the momentum created by the second World Parkinson Congress and commit ourselves to working together to build a global Parkinson’s movement, designed to elevate Parkinson’s disease as a priority health, social and economic issue around the world."

The Parkinson's community aims to have one million pledge signatures by the next World Parkinson Congress in Montreal in 2013!

Sign the pledge today to ensure Parkinson's is a priority around the world.

WPC Opening Ceremonies, Part I

The opening ceremonies of the 2nd World Parkinson Congress (WPC) included some inspiring and informative moments. Here are some quick highlights:

• Andrew Lees, M.D., Master of Ceremonies, opened the program and introduced the evening's speakers, including Glasgow's Lord Provost who welcomed everyone to the city.
  
  
• BBC News Presenter Jane Hill presented awards to Tony Cox and Pam Quinn, the winners of the WPC video competition. Special congratulations to Pam, a graduate of PDF's Clinical Research Learning Institute. (Watch her video!)



• Grace Griffith wowed everyone with two songs, accompanied by a guitarist. (See Grace's work on PDF's Creativity and PD site).
  
  
• Stanley Fahn, M.D., Co-Chair of the WPC and PDF's Scientific Director, discussed the history of the WPC, including the instrumental role of PDF and our Executive Director Robin Elliott in putting the first meeting together four years ago.



• Gavin Hastings, Former Rugby Captain of Scotland and the British Lions, announced that his wife Diane is living with Parkinson's and discussed his commitment to fighting it.



• PDF's on-site reporters, tell us they were especially moved by comments from Bryn Williams, who founded Wobbly Williams. (Read Bryn's full speech here).



• The next WPC will take place in 2013 in Montreal.
  

We have posted a few photos on our Flickr account and can't wait to share more as the sessions get underway tomorrow.

Preparing for WPC Opening Ceremonies

The 2nd World Parkinson Congress opening ceremonies begin in less than an hour. Tonight, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation will join nearly 3,000 other attendees - people with Parkinson's, care partners, spouses, loved ones, researchers, doctors, health care professionals and many Parkinson's nonprofit groups from around the world.

Check out the opening ceremony agenda. We'll report back in a bit on tonight's happenings!

Bringing the WPC to You

In just five days, members of the Parkinson’s community will gather for the 2nd World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, Scotland. Can’t make it to Scotland? PDF will bring the WPC to you.

We’ll be reporting straight from Glasgow, providing scientific updates, interviews with attendees, photos of the Parkinson’s Quilt display and more.

What do you want to know from the meeting? Give us some ideas of the topics you'd like covered.

We'll do our best to report back to you next week, with help from our on-the-ground reporters, members of our People With Parkinson’s Advisory Council and Clinical Research Learning Institute.

Please share your thoughts below.

• To comment or view comments: Click "Comments" or "Post a Comment" below.