Local man raising awareness for Parkinsons at the capitol

Next month is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. One local man is heading to Washington D.C. to talk to our representatives about it. This is in conjunction with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Joseph Prophet was diagnosed with Parkinson’s five years ago.

“At first it could have been really easy to curl up in a ball and be sick all the time. And I decided I’m going to start helping people and get involved and see what I can do. And it’s actually been a therapy for me,” says Prophet.

For the fourth year, he will be going to Washington D.C. To speak to representatives about the disease.

“Educate and talk to congressmen and senators about Parkinson’s Disease and what their votes and what they do on capitol hill affect myself and other people with Parkinson’s.”

He says it’s important to talk about the disease and it’s growing impact.

“It’s more and more prevalent and people are becoming diagnosed younger and younger, and we’re either going to take care of it now and get therapies and research now or we’re going to pay for it later.”

If you would like to get involved and help you can go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation website.