Danielle’s (Dani’s) Parkinson’s journey began in 2022 with a workplace injury.  

“I tripped over the rubbish bin in the classroom!” she laughed. But it turns out this injury was the least of the challenges awaiting her this particular year, and the next few to follow.  

The knee injury she sustained forced Dani to stop doing some of the work roles she loves; coaching teams, teaching PE, playground duty, and teaching lessons as some afternoons each week for 6 months she finished work early for physio treatment.  

This didn’t stop her continuing to have an impact in the school community and with her students, who always greeted her the next day with questions about the progress of her rehabilitation. Dani encouraged her students to tell her to “Sit down Miss” if she spent more than a few minutes standing to teach. Dani felt well and stayed fit by swimming, lifting weights, and riding the stationary bike, and by August was well enough to coach and teach PE again.  

When Dani’s father was 50, his family had noticed an uncontrollable tremor in his left pinkie finger. 

“Just like Michael J Fox,” Dani said. Soon, he had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s. 

Putting pieces of the puzzle together 

But when Dani started experiencing her own symptoms a couple of decades later, it took her a long time to put the pieces of the puzzle together. 

In June of 2022 something sinister had crept into her life: anxiety and depression.  

Masking this from workmates and students, she sought help from her GP and was put on a Mental Health Plan with a regular psychologist. Medication came next, but it did not change the brain fog, sense of dread, apathy and the ’going through the motions’ feeling of daily life. As symptoms worsened, Dani retreated from social events, including even using the staffroom at school.  

“I was just going through the motions of going to work and coming home. I stopped going to the gym. I stopped seeing friends.” 

She lost a lot of weight, went for test after test, and was developing phobias of doing everyday tasks, but the GP could not work out why she was so ill. By September, Dani needed more help so made the tough decision to take a term off teaching to get better, with the help of specialists at the Bronte Clinic. 

At first, her sudden onset of severe anxiety and depression was put down to psychological factors. In 2023 she returned to full-time work, still suffering, but focusing on teaching gave her some joy. She also went back to the gym and was ready to umpire AFL when the season began. 

Physical symptoms began 

“My school was great – they reduced my duties to help me readjust to work for the first term.” But it wasn’t long before other, more obvious physical symptoms began.  

A strong swimmer, Dani found her right arm would no longer swing, and her right leg wouldn’t kick. She was finding it hard to lift her feet to climb the stairs to her classroom, was fighting off phobias of working, driving, cycling and exercising by taking the ‘opposite action’ as she had learnt at the Clinic – but her severe anxiety and depression was becoming a lot to cope with while teaching.  

She reached out to fellow staff members to support her, by checking in on her mood and plans for the day. Talking helped, but didn’t stop the cloud of hopelessness she felt, nor the pains developing in her body, including severe peripheral neuropathy.  

Eventually, after months in limbo, she got a midday appointment, with the help of her Renal Specialist, to visit a neurologist who gave her the devastating news. 

“Before I even sat down for the consultation, he said, ‘You know what you’ve got?’ And I said, ‘I’ve got Parkinson’s’.”  

All the clinical tests were done, and she found her toes didn’t even wiggle. That was a surprise. That same day, she returned to work. A sense of relief came over her initially. Finally there was an answer to the turmoil and hopelessness of the past two years. She even remembers smiling about the diagnosis. But she was utterly drained by work and her ill-health.

Refusing to let symptoms consume her 

Dani said the months she went undiagnosed were some of the hardest of her whole life. Yet it’s clear that she is someone who is naturally resilient and hardworking, so she refused to let her symptoms consume her and kept working as a schoolteacher every day.  

These debilitating, confusing months were traumatising for her whole family, including her partner and teenage daughter, who was studying for her HSC at the time. 

Finding Parkinson’s NSW was a turning point. Even though Dani had some experience of Parkinson’s because of her dad, there was a lot she didn’t know. From the first call to the Parkinson’s NSW InfoLine, Dani found knowledgeable friends who could guide and support her to get the help she needed. 

In 2023 Dani was put on the right medications by her neurologist and her life was getting back on track. However, as her work returned to full duties in Term 3, her knee injury was causing pain and sleeplessness.  

She sought more physiotherapy and to re-open her Worker’s Compensation claim in 2024 after seeing her surgeon in March. This remains an ongoing process, but she had knee surgery in July 2024 which has changed her mobility for the better. 

After raising more than US$2000 for the Michel J. Fox Move-ember Appeal in 2023, Dani felt it was time to give back to those who had helped her and taught her to live a quality life with Parkinsons. In 2024, together with her mother, she raised several thousand dollars in the Parkinson’s NSW May Step Up Challenge, and she’s used her skills as a teacher to start conversations about Parkinson’s at her workplace, at her gym and on social media. 

And being diagnosed with Parkinson’s has lit another fire in her. While recovering from surgery, she began studying for a Masters in Social Work, stemming from her desire to give back, advocate and express her passion for helping other people like her feel welcomed and supported in the community.  

Beyond the Hollywood version 

“I think it’s so important for people to know a service like Parkinson’s NSW is there. But also to understand what Parkinson’s is, beyond the Michael J Fox-Hollywood version of the condition.” 

In 2024 she received her first NDIS plan and began treatments to maintain speech, mobility, strength, psychological health, and started occupational therapy too.  She attended seminars and forums – including NeuRA and Parkinson’s NSW seminars –  and signed up for research studies like the Global Parkinsons Genetic Program (gp2) and NeuRA’s studies of Parkinsons.  

Continuing with her interventions in 2025, Dani is also now participating in the PD Warrior 10-Week Challenge at Advanced Rehab Centre (ARC) and has also embarked on an exercise study of the effects of high intensity exercise on early stages of Parkinson’s. 

More importantly her skills in presenting at teaching, knowledge of Parkinson’s disease, and eagerness to engage in advocacy with Parkinson’s NSW, has led to her volunteering to talk about her lived experience at seminars. She also plans to also be involved in other Early Onset Parkinsons initiatives and an online support group. 

Dani also eagerly agreed to assist in the Parkinson’s NSW 2024 Christmas donation appeal by sharing her story. 

Recently, she has had to increase and adjust her medications with her neurologist to assist in managing new symptoms such as dystonia, lack of sleep, and dopamine lows. She reports that these changes have had a positive impact on her well-being and lifestyle.  

Illnesses don’t define me 

“The combination of chronic illnesses I have is long, but they don’t define me,” she reports. “If anything they push me to keep on going, stay strong, and help others when they ask for advice or what services to reach out to.”  

Dani believes that when you have a disease like Parkinson’s, strong relationships and support are the most important things you can have. Parkinson’s NSW believes that too. She recently got married in February to her partner of 16 years. 

Dani’s mottos and mantras in life include: 

Not just a diagnosis: Strength in Every Step.

My full-time job is my health.

Nothing is impossible, you just must find your own path to achieve your goals.

I am most inspired by the stories of others who have Parkinson’s. They know.