John Stapleton reveals Parkinson’s disease has ‘frustratingly’ affected his voice

John Stapleton reveals Parkinson’s disease has 'frustratingly' affected his voiceSource: Good Morning Britain

Transcript

00:00It won't ever change. I mean, Parkinson's is here with me now for the rest of my life.

00:04Best I can do is try and control it and take the advice of all the experts I'm talking to.

00:07When did you suspect that you might have it?

00:09About two or three years ago. I started with a tremor.

00:12I went to see a specialist and he said he didn't think it was Parkinson's. It was a thing

00:16called a benign essential tremor. I said, how did he get that? He said, we haven't a clue.

00:22But if it gets worse, come back. So I went back and of course he did then confirm. That was about

00:26two or three months ago I went back and he confirmed it was indeed Parkinson's.

00:30And I also had other symptoms as well. Difficulty swallowing, handwriting going,

00:36you find yourself writing in tiny letters that no one else could decipher.

00:40Feeling fatigued a lot of the time when I wouldn't do otherwise, you know.

00:44And of course the voice. The voice has lost a lot of its resonance. So I have to speak loudly.

00:50I've got a speech therapist who's helping me a great deal, teaching me to speak more loudly.

00:55See, he's shredding now. Richard's starting to hear what I'm saying.

00:59It's okay in situations like this normally, but sometimes if you go somewhere where there's

01:03ambient noise, like a pub or a restaurant, which I'm occasionally prone to, as you know, Susanna.

01:09Or a football match perhaps.

01:11You struggle sometimes. People are constantly saying to you, sorry, what did you say?

01:15It's very frustrating. And sometimes they say, you repeat yourself and they say, oh yes,

01:20you know, they haven't actually understood what you've said. They're just trying to be polite.

01:23But, you know, you learn to live with it.

01:25Is it the first thing you think about when you wake up?

01:27And is it the last thing you think about when you go to sleep?

01:30It's often the first thing I think about when I wake up, because like getting dressed,

01:33because of the tremor. The tremor is one of the first signs. I didn't mention that, did I?

01:38Mine's not too bad at the moment, but things like putting your shirt on this morning,

01:41takes a lot longer than...

01:42Or doing the buttons up.

01:43Doing the buttons up, yeah.

01:44Yeah.

01:45My mother.