Carroll County man helps launch Parkinson’s support group in Carrollton

“I felt so all alone, like I was the only one with this diagnosis,” said Lou Young, 88, of Dellroy. “My wife has been terrific, but you still feel like you’re on an island.”

Young was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2022. He noticed symptoms for about two years, but didn’t know he actually had it – until the day he fell off his boat dock checking on his pontoon after a heavy storm.

“The wind was whipping, the dock was swaying, and I lost my balance and fell head-first into the water,” he said. 

Unable to pull himself up on the dock and feeling weak, he began yelling for help. A neighbor, Paul Rosner, heard Young’s call for help and ran to the dock and pulled him up onto the dock.

“He probably saved my life,” Young said. “I knew then that I had to do something.”

Tests at the Cleveland Clinic confirmed the diagnosis.

“I didn’t know what to expect, so I started studying about it,” he said. "Later, I met a guy at a Best Buy store who also had Parkinson’s, and I finally had someone I could talk with about it.”

Young later met Charlie Dalton while walking the exercise track at the Aultman Carrollton facility. Dalton’s wife, Sue, had be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Together, they attended a Cleveland Clinic sponsored symposium discussing Parkinson’s at the Akron Civic Center that was attended by more than 500 people. A Parkinson’s support group of leaders from Cuyahoga County had a booth at the symposium. There they learned about holding meetings where people could gather and talk about issues they were facing fighting the disease, and other meetings where they could do therapy together.

“I said to Charlie that maybe we should try to start a support group for Carroll County,” Young said. “We just need to find a place that could accommodate our needs.”

A few days later, Young went to the Carrollton Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital Therapy office at 1001 Canton Road NW, where he met Sarah Netro, a speech therapist associated with Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital Therapy Services in Canton. Netro is at the Carrollton office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in the Dover-New Philadelphia area Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Young approached Netro with the possibility of starting a Parkinson’s Disease support group in Carroll County. They agreed to meet in October 2024 to lay out a plan. It was agreed the group would meet twice a month, the first Tuesday, for face-to-face conversations, and sometimes a medical professional or motivational speaker. The second meeting is the third Tuesday, which is a therapy session. The 90-minute meetings start at 10 a.m., with the last half hour of each session for socializing.

“We held an open house in December 2024 after an article in the Free Press, and we handed out flyers to all the local doctors and put them on public bulletin boards,” Young said. “The first meeting had 18 people attending.

“Many of the spouses attend, also, and become a part of the group,” Young said. “The disease reaches far beyond those afflicted with it, and a strong support system of family and friends is so important to the mental stress associated with Parkinson’s.”

The group continues to host about 15-20 people per meeting, but Young feels there is a much larger Parkinson’s community in the county that has been underserved in the past.

“My advice is to stay calm, watch your diet, maintain a regimental rest program and exercise,” Young said. “Don’t try to fight this alone. I think we’ve found strength in the group. It’s so easy to want to just give up.”

The group is accepting new members with, or without, Parkinson’s disease. Call the Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital Carrollton Therapy Services office for information at 330-627-8873, Ext. 8, or just walk in.