"Does it hurt, Granny? and other stories" was published in 2016, just in time to appear as one of the chosen texts in the "Book Nook" at the world Parkinson's Congress in Portland, Oregon. That explains the smile on my face in the photo.

I was 4 years into my Parkinson's, feeling positive, energetic and defiant in the face of this degenerative, neurological condition. In 2012 when I was first diagnosed, I knew nothing about the condition and knew nobody who had it. When I attended my first few meetings I heard of the silence there was around it where grandparents wanted to "tell" but nobody quite knew what to say. "Shhh!" I was told the grown ups said. "It's rude to stare" or "When you're a bit bigger, I'll tell you about it". So the silence grew and the children grew more afraid of their grandparent who had started to shuffle, or shake or dribble or slur their speech. The grandparents felt shunned and isolated; the children felt frightened and confused.

What was needed was a channel of communication between them.

And so Jake and Granny came into being.

The 5 stories in the book trace Granny's journey, shared along the way with Jake, through his early question "Does it hurt?", the first thing a child asks when someone they love is unwell; through the offer of help with those things Jake thinks Granny might need his help with ( Jake is 6 years old - you can imagine! Shopping on the internet is the most successful) "I'll do it, Granny" is the title of book 2; on to Granny's determination to do all those crazy things she had always wanted to do but had never got round to doing, but now feared her Parkinson's might stop her from doing - Jake is rather scared by her madcap doings - book 3 is entitled "Steady On Granny"; Jake's efforts to make Granny laugh when she was having a bad day , book 4 "Cheer Up Granny" , and finally Jake's fears are out and he asks "Can we talk about it?", book 5.

And this book is perhaps the one which brings together the most clearly what it is that a child affected by the sudden intrusion of Parkinson's into his life, really needs; honesty, reassurance and the continuing relationship with his Person with Parkinson's. He says to Granny " Well, it's not very nice that you've got Parkinson's, Granny, but I'm glad we can talk about it and I don't feel frightened any more".

And who could want a better end to the stories than that?

This 5 volume edition was originally on sale for £10, but I have slowly been able to recover some of my printing, illustration and graphic design costs so I am now offering it to you at a cost of £7.50. For every volume sold, I will donate £2.50 to the funds of PUK, Bristol Branch.

Please email me at dawnmay2002@hotmail.com and we can arrange for you to collect a book from my home or from a branch meeting. If you need the book to be posted, I will add the cost of postage to your £7.50.

Thank you for your interest in my book.

Dawn