Books & Resources

Written by George M. Ackerman, PhD, MJFF community member and Founder of Together for Sharon, comes a personal memoir: A Son’s Journey from Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver to Advocate. The book recounts the journey of Dr. Ackerman's mother Sharon Riff Ackerman through a heartfelt recollection of the beginnings of her Parkinson’s disease symptoms and his learnings as a caregiver to support her. To learn more about their story, click the link to access the book. 

In 2014, The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation formed a collaborative research alliance with MJFF and established The Bachmann-Strauss Prize for Excellence in Dystonia Research to broaden public awareness and recognize key scientific discoveries in dystonia.

The Brain Donor Project is a nonprofit that connects people interested in donating their brains after death with research programs studying neurological conditions. It aims to increase the number and diversity of brain donations to support research on diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and mental health disorders. By facilitating these donations, it helps scientists better understand the brain and develop new treatments.

Brain Drops is a collection of poetry and paintings by Patricia “Trish” Bissell, who has been living with Parkinson’s Disease for 26 years and counting. Her art and poems span a range of topics, including love, health, and disease.

In his latest book, journalist and friend of the Foundation Jon Palfreman chronicles how scientists have worked to crack the mystery of what was once called the shaking palsy, from the earliest clinical descriptions of tremors, gait freezing and micrographia to the cutting edge of neuroscience, and charts the victories and setbacks of a massive international effort to best the disease. And he shares inspiring stories of brave individuals living with Parkinson’s, from a former professional ballet dancer who tricks her body to move freely

again to a patient who cannot walk but astounds doctors when he is able to ride a bicycle with no trouble at all.

The second book in the Shaky Paws Grampa series, was written to address Parkinson’s disease (PD) specifically and to provide a communication tool for people with Parkinson’s to use with their children or grandchildren. This book provides details specific to PD symptoms and mentions important issues in the PD world, including deep brain stimulation therapy.

(Paperback published 1999 by Prometheus Books)

Challenging Parkinson's is a site created by Team Fox member, Ned Neuhaus, to highlight the physical journey of people with Parkinson's, including himself. Forced movement exercise has been proven many times to be the best thing to help, and this is a site about staying active and continually challenging oneself and one's friends with PD to do everything in their power to slow PD’s control over them, including his personal journey with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS).

Parkinson's disease may lead to various sleep disturbances. Comfort Linen is a global online retailer of a unique friction-reducing sleep system comprised of sleepwear and a bed sheet for people living with Parkinson’s disease. Turning side to side and getting in and out of bed become smoother and easier thereby allowing a more restful sleep, often for the partner too.

The Davis Phinney Foundation was created in 2004 by Olympic medalist and retired professional cyclist, Davis Phinney, to help people with Parkinson’s live well today. As a national leader of quality of life research, the organization’s singular focus is to provide programs and resources that offer inspiration, information and tools that enable people living with Parkinson’s to take action that can immediately improve their quality of life. Through The Victory Summit® event series, Every Victory Counts® manual, Ambassador program and extensive online content, the organization impacts hundreds of thousands of individuals each year. Learn more at www.davisphinneyfoundation.org.