Knew something was wrong

Jayne Hughes initially knew something was wrong when her usually neat handwriting began to look, in her own words, “like a doctor’s prescription.”

Three years of investigations eventually led to the diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 43 which Jayne says, understandably, felt like having an out of body experience.

Until that point, she had worked all her career for the National Health Service at Pinderfields Hospital, as a technician but had to retire due to ill health three years after receiving her diagnosis in 2013.

Looking back, Jayne thinks various traumatic events in her life, including losing her parents and having a miscarriage and stillbirth contributed to the Parkinson’s.

“I have idiopathic Parkinson’s which means they don’t know why I have got it, but I think it’s definitely down to the trauma in my life,” says Jayne.

“But I try to stay positive and get on with it because there are people in a worse condition than me.”

Caremark Wakefield began supporting Jayne 12 months ago after she started to struggle a little in her home.

Our Care Assistants visit for 30 minutes each morning to help her get up and be ready for the day.

Jayne says: “I was struggling to motivate myself in the mornings, so they have really helped with that as they come in bright and breezy and really lift me for the day.

“Some days I am already up, showered and dancing around the kitchen but other days I am still in bed, so it’s for these days in particular that I appreciate their help.”

Jayne says she enjoyed attending the first Caremark coffee morning and is looking forward to future ones.

“It was nice getting out and meeting other people,” says Jayne.