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Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman has opened up about caring for her mom, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s 24-hour care,” Schlapman, 56, told USA Today in an interview published on Saturday, May 30, of the experience she’s undertaken since her 78-year-old mother Barbara’s diagnosis was presented about 20 years ago.
“When she was diagnosed, we didn’t understand what her care would mean,” she continued. “We didn’t know enough about the disease to know where we were headed.”
Schlapman, who works with her family as well as hired help to care for Barbara, recalled the day in 2005 when Barbara’s hand tremor led to a doctor informing her that she may have Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time according to the Mayo Clinic.
“I was like, what? What? Because no one in our family, to our knowledge, has had Parkinson’s before,” Schlapman detailed, before adding that once the suspicion evolved into a diagnosis, the family did not understand what care for Barbara would look like.
Feeling the need to “be in multiple places at once,” Schlapman, who shares two daughters, Daisy, 18, and Dolly, 9, with husband Stephen, told the outlet that she relishes the responsibility to provide care for her loved ones.
“I love being a mama. I also know what my mama has meant to me in my life. Now I get an opportunity to care for her. That’s incredibly important to me,” Schlapman said. “I also have a job where people rely on me.”
Schlapman, who is also an avid cook, spoke wider about the need for more people to openly discuss the realities of living with Parkinson’s disease.
“There is no shame in this disease,” Schlapman said. “And there are so many of us out there living with it that we need each other and we need to talk about it. And the more we talk about it, the better off our loved ones are going to be because their care is going to be better and people are going to understand it more.”
Schlapman also noted that she recently moved closer to her mom to ensure she’s an active member of Barbara’s support team. “I just wouldn’t have it any other way,” she told the outlet. “We’re very, very involved in her care and with her doctors, and there’s one of us at every appointment she has.”
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