February 2007 I was informed that I had an uninvited and unwanted lodger in my attic. He had started to make his presence felt by messing with some of the workings of various parts of the house. I went to a number of people to see if we could just put him out. But I was informed that as he had been there for a long time before he declared his presence he therefore had squatter’s rights.
I found this very hard to accept so I made appointments with some other specialists who could not do anything for me except offer me some pills which they said might help restrict his movement and confine him to certain parts of the attic.
I put up with this situation for over five years while bit by bit this uninvited guest gained more and more control and had fun doing all sorts of things in my head. He appeared to enjoy moving the furniture around and causing all sorts of blockages. By this time he was controlling the movement in both my arms and both my legs. He had introduced me to depression and had taken over control of my bladder. He had great fun inflicting pain of all sorts and anxiety. I then learned about this lady who had been awarded a special medal by the Lord Mayor of Dublin for completing the Dublin Marathon and she also had this uninvited man in her attic.
This lady is Mags Mullarney and she was setting up a group to tackle this guy. Best part she is a solicitor and I thought surely she would know how to get this guy evicted. I heard there was to be an information day, which I looked forward to with great anticipation. I went along to the day full of hope, but it only confirmed that the uninvited guest was here to stay. However there was a plan to curtail his power over us. She was going to form a choir. How a choir could help in this situation, I thought, this is nuts. In the end I decided to give it a go… and Lo and Behold it worked and I discovered that while I was busy doing something, this guest controlled less of my mind.
I now know that I might never evict Mr Parkinson’s, but being part of the choir helps me to remember that I can decide to disrupt his work by exercise, keeping busy with any hobby and regular taking of my medication. I will always be grateful to Mags for her foresight in setting up our choir, so aptly named “The Voices of Hope”. This is a talk I gave in September 2017 on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Voices of Hope Choir. Since then Mr Parkinson has move into some other areas of the attic and is currently attempting gain more control of my upper story. I am fighting back with all I possess will let you all know the outcome soon.
Paul