My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson's

by Peter Dunlap-Shohl, Peter Dunlap-Shohl (Artist)

Overview

They say, "It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness." Peter Dunlap-Shohl counters, "Why not do both?"

At the age of forty-three, former Anchorage Daily News staff cartoonist Peter Dunlap-Shohl was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a disorder that, among other things, can rob a person of their ability to speak or write and degrades their ability to deal with complexity. In My Degeneration, Dunlap-Shohl recounts his attempt to come to grips with the "malicious whimsy" of this chronic, progressive, and disabling disorder with his characteristic humor and passion.
This graphic novel tracks the author's journey through depression, juggling medications and weathering their side effects, the impact of the diagnosis on his personal relationships, and the raft of mental and physical changes wrought by the disease.

But My Degeneration is more than a memoir—Dunlap-Shohl gives the person newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease the information necessary to cope with it on a day-to-day basis. He chronicles the changes that life with the disorder can bring to the way one sees the world and the way one is seen by the wider community. Above all, Dunlap-Shohl imparts a realistic basis for hope—hope not only to carry on but to enjoy a decent quality of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637790892
Publisher:	Graphic Mundi - Psu Press
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Pages:	108
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Peter Dunlap-Shohl worked as a cartoonist for the Anchorage Daily News for more than twenty-five years. His journey with Parkinson’s was recently featured in the PBS documentary Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s. He writes about living with the disease on his blogs, Frozen Grin and Off & On: The Alaska Parkinson’s Rag. He is also the author of Nuking Alaska: Notes of an Atomic Fugitive, available from Graphic Mundi. He and his wife Pam divide their time between Alaska and eastern Washington state.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Diagnosis Blues

2 Learning to Speak Parkinson’s

3 Interview with a Killer

4 Moping and Coping

5 The Parkinson’s Prism

6 Island of the Caring and Competent

7 A Different Path

8 Diagnosis, Reprise

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Janice Phillips, PhD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: The author, a cartoonist, uses his medium to provide a wonderful firsthand account of his experience living with Parkinson's disease from diagnosis to rehabilitation. The author is skillful in presenting a vivid visual account of what it is like to experience a number of physical, emotional, and psychological changes as he manages living with Parkinson's disease since his diagnosis at the age of 43.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide a personal account of what it is like to live with early onset Parkinson's disease. The book offers great insights for patients and even caregivers to learn more about the disease and its progression in an informative, visual, engaging, and oftentimes lighthearted manner. The author walks readers through various stages of his disease, treatment regimens, and even his deep-brain stimulation surgery, all of which are designed to help control symptoms associated with the disease and enhance the quality of life for the patient. The author more than ably captures his experience living with his diagnosis while providing a great tool for educating anyone with an interest in Parkinson's disease including lay and professional audiences.
Audience: The book is appropriate for a broad audience ranging from those with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease to caregivers, loved ones, healthcare providers, and anyone with an interest in the disease. As a former staff cartoonist for a daily newspaper, the author is skillful in illustrating the joys and challenges of living with Parkinson's disease.
Features: The book is divided into eight segments the author labels: 1) Diagnosis Blues; 2) Learning to Speak Parkinson's; 3) Interview with a Killer (the disease itself); 4) Moping and Coping; 5) The Parkinson's Prism; 6) Island of the Caring and Competent; 7) A Different Path; and 8) Diagnosis, Reprise. Fundamental aspects of the disease are highlighted throughout the book using vivid graphic illustrations. The manifestations of symptoms and the emotional aspects associated with living with the disease are well depicted. The author is skillful at educating readers about his experience coping with myriad symptoms and emotional twists and turns as he navigates living with Parkinson's disease. His fears and concerns about a possibly diminished quality of life are conveyed by carefully constructed graphics. Through graphics, readers see how sharing family perspectives and experiences with the healthcare system can be quite helpful to patients needing to learn more about the disease and coping mechanisms. The illustrations are perhaps the best feature as they provide a vivid depiction of the author's physical and emotional experiences coping with the disease.
Assessment: This unique memoir is a must-read for those facing a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. Caregivers and others interested in this disease also will glean valuable insights into what it is like for someone living with this diagnosis. While everyone's journey is unique, the overview of actual and possible physical and cognitive changes are realities, brought to life in this book, and may be helpful to patients seeking proactive measures. For example, the benefits of exercise illustrated in the book should be pursued by patients at the onset of symptoms when feasible. The use of comics is an engaging way to impart useful information about the difficult topic of living with a chronic disease and, perhaps, ways of savoring any joy along the journey.

Doody's Review Service

[An] emotionally resonant memoir.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Peter Dunlap-Shohl's My Degeneration is . . . a model of how to fill a particular niche. . . . In one of the funniest segments, Dunlap-Shohl presents a series of drawings of bad doctors: ‘the gimlet-eyed skeptic’ who accuses her patient of making up his symptoms, the ‘cheery prophet’ who forecasts inevitable physical decline, ‘the blithe know-it-all,’ and several more. For patients, these irreverent archetypes validate their experiences. Clinicians, too, stand to gain a better appreciation of how they might appear to their patients.”

—Arthur W. Frank Science

“My Degeneration opens up a powerful new purpose for comics—as an effective tool to educate doctors, patients, and others about both the clinical and the personal sides of living with a disease. This book should be required reading for any specialist.”

—Foreword Reviews

“Going beyond patient-education booklets, Dunlap-Shohl’s journey of setbacks and triumphs contextualizes key disease information within a narrative suffused with emotion and wry humor. [Parkinson’s disease] patients, families, and caregivers will find it valuable; those who enjoy memoirs will appreciate its compelling real-life drama.”

—Library Journal

“[My Degeneration] is in many ways what I would describe as the very model of a graphic medicine book: perfectly balancing . . . the educational and the autobiographical, the clinical and the personal.”

—Jared Gardner Public Books

“We learn basic facts and so much more from Dunlap-Shohl’s honest and honestly engaging account, from his initial depression through all of his learning and experience with the disease to his final chapter. Most of us likely know at least one person with Parkinson’s, and to now have this incredibly informative text allows us to understand the disease in a fresh, bold, visual and visceral way. Those who may find themselves with the unfortunate diagnosis will have a helpful guide to understanding and coping.”

—Nancy Lord Alaska Dispatch News

“The reach of this book extends far beyond those who have, or know someone who has, Parkinson's disease. I recommend it especially to physicians and other health care providers, who by reading it might avoid the "gratuitous cruelty" that is so easily inflicted, and which Dunlap-Shohl illustrates from his own experiences. . . . I recommend it also to all readers as a story told with humor, honesty and grace, and Dunlap-Shohl has made it into a work of art.”

—Carolyn Kroehler The Roanoke Times

“Peter Dunlap-Shohl once again brings his unique art to the table to help educate, illustrate, and demonstrate life, hope, and strength on his journey with Parkinson’s. Creative and insightful, this book reflects all of Pete’s greatest qualities, including his constant work to help and educate all those in the PD community, patients and care partners alike.”

—Bill Bell, co-founder of the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation

“Peter Dunlap-Shohl is a comic genius and a masterful artist. The fact that he came down with early-onset Parkinson’s gave him the unlucky opportunity to chronicle this dogged and humorless disease. His wit and artistry, his truth telling in the face of struggle, makes the struggle easier for his readers to bear. Peter is a Rock Star Artist and Humorist. Every disease like Parkinson’s should have someone like Peter Dunlap-Shohl, until there are no more diseases like Parkinson’s left.”

—John Straley, author of Cold Storage, Alaska

“I could have recommended Peter Dunlap-Shohl’s book because it brings attention to a great purpose. Or because it is brave and honest work. Or even simply to acknowledge an achievement of this magnitude created under physical, psychological, and emotional circumstances that most of us will never understand.

"But I'm not endorsing Peter’s graphic novel for any of those reasons. I'm doing so because this is a damn fine work of art, by a damn fine artist.”

—Nick Galifianakis, Washington Post cartoonist

“The world made fresh by a Parkinson’s patient with a wonderfully sensitive and cocked eye. He tells the tale of his fast-changing reality with compassion and wicked humor, leaping from one crazily inventive work of art to the next. Never more acute than when examining his own mind-set, Peter Dunlap-Shohl leads us from diagnosis and despair to the high ground where he could compose this lucid, moving book. A miracle, in a way—and a triumph.”

—Tom Kizzia, author of Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier

“Terrific, a read-in-one-sitting book that engages, teaches, and challenges readers from the first page until its conclusion. . . . Ultimately, this is a story about resilience, and how PD helped the author develop a new perspective on the fragility of life and his ability to adapt to adversity. It is a lesson that all health care professionals should heed.”

—Michael J. Green and MK Czerwiec JAMA

“This unique memoir is a must-read for those facing a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. Caregivers and others interested in this disease also will glean valuable insights into what it is like for someone living with this diagnosis. The use of comics is an engaging way to impart useful information about the difficult topic of living with a chronic disease and, perhaps, ways of savoring any joy along the journey.”

—Janice Phillips Doody's Review Service

From the Publisher