Wakefield artist will address MPs at Parliament about Parkinson’s disease issues

Jan Sargeant will represent those living with Parkinson’s at a meeting with the Minister for Disabled People Tom Pursglove MP on Monday, Februrary 27.

It was called by Peter Dowd MP, and Peter Aldous MP and Sir David Evennett MP will also join the meeting.

The meeting has been arranged to specifically consider how the issues that affect everyone - rising food and energy costs, pressures on the NHS – impact even more on those living with Parkinson’s Disease, a condition

which is often not fully understood but which is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the UK.

Jan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in May 2016 and has become increasingly disabled by the disease, which is degenerative, progressive and incurable.

She runs a Facebook support group for more than 2,000 people living with Parkinson’s across the UK.

She was honoured to be asked to attend the meeting by Parkinson’s UK, the national charity, so that ministers might understand the lived reality of the condition from the point of view of someone directly affected.

She said: “I’m a 66 year old, disabled woman from a small village near Wakefield.

“But I’m willing to go down to London to talk to these ministers if it helps them to understand better.”

Parkinson’s UK are meeting the costs of travel for herself and her carer and one of their representatives will accompany her to the meeting.