Soania Mathur
Parkinson’s Disease Patient and Physician
“For me it began at 27 years of age, a slight tremor in my right pinky finger, just as I was completing my residency in family practice and starting my career as a physician. At first I was more medically intrigued with experiencing a symptom that I had heard so many patients describe.
But then my concern grew as the tremor went from sporadic to continuous and that’s when I began to experience medicine from the patient’s perspective. The frustration at the lack of control I had over my own body, the desperation I felt when told of the diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease and the fear of the future. And through it all, relentlessly, the tremor progressed.
The effects transcended into my work, my social and family life. It made itself known from the moment I awoke until I fell asleep at night. All during a period of time that I felt I should have been in the prime of my life. A decade into my journey I began to realize that although I had no control over my diagnosis, I did have control over how I faced this challenge. This acceptance allowed me to move forward.”
Soania Mathur is a family physician who had to resign her practice as a result of her Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease a full twelve years after her diagnosis at age 27. Now she is a dedicated speaker, writer, educator and Parkinson’s advocate. She speaks passionately about the challenges of adjusting physically and emotionally and the coping strategies available to patients, both through medical and lifestyle tactics to manage the changes.
Soania is an active speaker with the Parkinson’s Society of Canada at patient-directed conferences and also serves as a resource for education projects. She works with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and serves on their Patient Council. She is a member of The Brian Grant Foundation Advisory Board that helps to create educational programming.
She is the founder of Designing A Cure Inc. which was initially created to raise funds directed towards research and awareness of Parkinson’s Disease and now serves as a platform to educate and inspire those living with this disease to take charge of their lives, to live well with Parkinson’s.
Dr. Mathur has a special interest in helping educate the youngest affected by the stress of this chronic disease. To help facilitate dialogue between children and their loved ones, she has authored two books: “My Shaky Grandpa” and “Shaky Hands, Loving Hands – A Children’s Guide To Parkinson’s Disease” (awaiting publication).
Recently, Dr. Mathur launched a new company Hippylicious which is dedicated to providing parents with all natural, non-toxic personal care products for their families in an effort to reduce their toxin load, a factor that she believes is significant in the development or exacerbation of many diseases.
Most importantly, she is the proud mother of three beautiful daughters and married to her loving and supportive husband Arun, a Urologic surgeon.
Follow Soania @SoaniaMathur
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