Our brave inspirational Christine was a young Parkinson's Disease sufferer and lived with this degenerative condition for 30 years until her recent death. She never complained. 

When our late mother said 'why you', she replied 'why not me?'. Her great refrain was always, 'It's not about the cards you are dealt, it's the way you play them that matters'. Of course, there were battles, obstacles and challenges. She was never defeated by them. The famous quote 'We will never surrender' was made for her. 

Christine gave love freely to others and asked for nothing in return. She brought joy, mischief and also pain (in refusing to make concessions to Parkinson's).The kindness and generosity of some people, the dedication of specialists and research scientists, her remarkable group of carers were all an extraordinary and special part of her life. 

Her last wishes and greatest gift was to donate her brain for research into Parkinson's and other neurological conditions to help others. Increasingly research is shared to make the widest impact possible.

In her memory we are growing this gift and raising money for Cure Parkinson's, who fund cutting edge Parkinson's research with the goal of finding new treatments to slow, stop or reverse the progression of Parkinson's. An increasing number of people - young and old - alive today in the UK will be diagnosed with Parkinson's in their lifetime and new treatments have the potential to dramatically reduce the impact on their lives. 

Shortly before her death Christine shared that at night when she felt frightened she would try to get rid of bothersome thoughts and think of sitting on a cloud high up in the sky. 

From there she will be watching over us and make sure we beat Parkinson's. Please give as much or as little as you can in her name to help those others. Every penny counts. 

Enjoy every day - it's a  privilege and remember to tell the important people in your life how much you love them. 

Heartfelt thanks to all who feel they can donate.

Quick Update for all our generous donors: It was immensely difficult to carry out Christine's last wishes. Brain banks are under threat along with critical research opportunities at risk of being impeded or lost altogether. Parkinson's and other neurological charities have responded so positively to the call for cross-charity action on the critical issues confronting brain banks to keep vital research going to help others as Christine wanted.  

 #There is no research without action and no action without research!