An interview with Peter Dunlap-Shohl: A cartoonist takes on Parkinson’s Disease
Biography
Peter Dunlap-Shohl, to his shock, was diagnosed in 2002 with Parkinson’s disease. He was 43, and in no position to deal with an incurable, progressive and disabling disease. As a husband and father, he had no room in his life for the Parkinson’s Poltergeist. As cartoonist for the Anchorage Daily news, he was too busy with a job he loved to lose time to a disease that would demand attention around the clock. As a life-long Alaskan he was not prepared to give up his skis, skates and beloved bicycle to a disease that would slowly paralyze him, rendering him helpless to move as he willed.
Please tell me a little about your background.
I come from a family of seven children. Fascinated from an early age with the magic of drawing, especially the drawing in political cartoons, and in love with the free, spontaneous line of artists like Pat Oliphant and Ronald Searle, I was intrigued by the possibility of influencing the world around me with a humble pen, and settled on the idea of becoming a political cartoonist by the fifth grade. A few months after graduation from Whitman College.I was hired by my hometown newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News
Can you tell me more about your Advocacy?
My advocacy was an outgrowth of my work as a journalist. Appalled at the lack of hopeful reporting available on PD, I established a blog, “Off and On, the Alaska Parkinson’s Rag”. The blog featured my cartoons, essays and animations and was well received, garnering praise as an inspired use of the then-new medium of blogging. Myblog took a broad view of Parkinson’s, with post subjects ranging from the medieval love story of Abelard and Heloise (Abelard was a Parkie) to a stream of consciousness piece on my DBS brain implant surgery and on to a debunking of the shameless and baseless lie that Hillary Clinton suffered from PD during her run for the Presidency. In 2024 I was profiled in the PBS Independent Lens documentary “Matters of Mind: My Parkinson’s.”
What is your passion and how did you get involved in Parkinson’s awareness and hope for a cure?
To paraphrase a note on my first-grade report card “Peter has lots of information he is willing to share”. Sharing information has been my modus operandi all my life, culminating in the publication of my book, “My Degeneration, a Journey Through Parkinson’s” a memoir in the form of a book-length comic of my effort to come to terms with the disease.
What type of goals does individuals with Parkinson’s have when seeing your Advocacy?
I hope above all that people will be inspired to exercise. It can be cheap, doesn’t require a prescription, and done correctly; it can reduce motor systems by a third. The earlier a good PD oriented exercise program is adopted the gentler the slide toward disability will be, and the better the overall outcome.
What effect can your Advocacy have on an individual with Parkinson’s?
My aim for my advocacy is to pass on the torch of credible hope that a person with PD can have many years of high quality of life, even in the absence of a cure. Nobody knows if/when a cure will be found, but everybody needs to feel better right now.
What would you like to see as a future goal for your Advocacy?
My future goal is to maintain my health enough to continue advocating until a cure or something like a cure is found.
What events do you participate in?
Attended the World Parkinson’s Conference in Washington DC, spoke at Northwest Parkinson’s Hope Conferences in Seattle and Spokane
How does this also assist the caregivers?
Any weight you can take off the back of a person with Parkinson’s will be that much less weight for their caregiver to manage.
How can someone get in touch? What is your website?
My email <dunlapshohl@gmail.com>
My PD blog: Offandonakpdrag.blogspot.com
How can others also become advocates for awareness?
Just do it. What are you waiting for? Your experience as a person with Parkinson’s makes you a PD expert and as such, you have a valuable contribution to make to the discussion. It’s the right thing to do, and after you do it, you will get a warm, fuzzy feeling.
In your opinion, what is the key to effective advocacy?
Doing your homework, remembering it’s not just about you, honesty.
What other activities do you undertake to help improve and support your daily living Eg exercise and alternative remedies?
In addition to exercising every day, alternating strength training with cardio, I play the mandolin. Music soothes the savage brain, knits up the raveled sleeve of care. Music is an activity that activates all regions of the brain. Play music.
Why should people who don’t have Parkinson’s care about this?
Don’t you mean people who don’t have Parkinson’s yet? Unless a cure is found, Parkinson’s will pass Alzheimer’s in a few years as the most common neurological disease. This will affect all of us as workers fall by the wayside, patients swell our healthcare system and on and on. Plus, we will avoid a vast toll in human suffering if we can tame this disease.
Have you had any family members or relatives affected by Parkinson’s disease?
No
If you had one song that would tell us more about you or represent your life, which song would it be?
Dimming of the Day, by Richard and Linda Thompson, the most beautiful love song I know, chosen in honor of the most beautiful person I know, My wife, Pam.
If you had one final statement or quote you could leave for the Parkinson’s community, what would it be?
Festinate forward