David Mills was just 54 when he began displaying symptoms of what he now knows was the early onset of Parkinson’s. “It was back in October 2009 and I thought I had trapped a nerve in my arm,” he explained.

“When I held my arm out it was shaking.”

By the following spring David was still experiencing discomfort and his wife Catherine suggested that he visit the GP.

“We were at our son’s wedding in May and when I held his hand I could actually feel him shaking,” she said.

The GP asked him to hold a sheet of paper to detect the characteristic tremors of the serious neurological condition and David was told that he mostly likely had Parkinson’s.

It was, says Catherine, devastating news for one so young.

“We couldn’t talk about it, even between ourselves, without getting upset,” she added.

But six years on and the couple, who live in Mount and run their own small accountancy firm, have not only come to terms with the life-changing condition, which affects 127,000 people in the UK, they have also become involved with the Huddersfield branch of Parkinson’s UK, a charity that works to help both sufferers and their families.

On Wednesday, April 15, the branch is hosting an awareness day – a week ahead of the National Awareness Week – in Huddersfield Town Hall, an event that David and Catherine hope will attract sufferers who have yet to join the organisation.

They know from personal experience that becoming a member is not necessarily an easy step.

As David, who is now 60, explained: “We knew about Parkinson’s UK but I didn’t want to join because I didn’t want to see people who were in a worse state than me. I didn’t want to see what is ahead.”

Catherine agrees: “We were frightened of what we were going to see and we didn’t want to be reminded. But you are with people who have got problems similar to your own and we help and support each other.”

Branch secretary Karen Hobson says their reaction was not unusual.

She explained: “I think that for some people joining is a last-minute thing and they leave it until they can’t do as much as they could and think that this is the time to get involved.

“We have members who are just happy to receive the newsletter and others who can’t wait for the meetings so they can catch up with their friends.”

Today both David and Catherine are committee members of the Huddersfield branch of Parkinson’s UK – Catherine is the treasurer – and they also belong to a young person’s group run by the charity for those with early onset Parkinson’s.

They take part in the branch’s regular chair yoga sessions and social activities and have realised that the organisation can be a lifeline for those struggling with the condition.

“On the awareness day we are hoping that people with Parkinson’s who are not members will come along and speak to us,” said Catherine. “And then come to our monthly meetings where we have speakers. We also have days out and meals out.”

The group has around 120 members.

progressive disease affects both the sufferer
and their carers

While David is still fully mobile and active, he has seen signs of deterioration in his condition and is taking a drug that helps to boost production of the hormone dopamine, which is not made in sufficient quantities by Parkinson’s patients.

He now struggles to write by hand and so uses a computer; his tremors are more pronounced; he drags his feet when he walks; and he suffers from fatigue.

But he can still work, drive and even take the couple’s two dogs, Ollie and Oscar, for a walk.

“He is quite lucky really,” says Catherine, “because they say that if you have tremors then the condition progresses more slowly than in people who don’t have tremors.”

Of course, any chronic, progressive disease affects both the sufferer and their carers.

Catherine, whose 82-year-old father also has Parkinson’s, says she’s had to take on more household responsibilities and has even started gardening “which is something I never did before”.

No-one know exactly what the future will bring but they are prepared for what Parkinson’s will throw at them.

As Catherine says: “We have accepted it now and can even joke about it in the family and with close friends.

“A prime example of that was when we were on holiday with our son Andrew and he said ‘are we allowed to make fun of you and make a joke?’

“Andrew said if he was making a salad dressing he could give it to David in the kitchen and by the time he got it into the dining room it would be all shaken up.”

The couple also have another son, Matthew.

While most people have heard of Parkinson’s, Catherine thinks that there is still a need for greater awareness.

The couple enjoy going on cruises but say that since David developed Parkinson’s they ask to be seated at dinner with the same people every evening. wWhen we meet strangers they think David has a drinking problem because of the shaking.

“They don’t think about Parkinson’s because of David’s age. Most people with the condition are a lot older,” said Catherine.

“We ask to sit with the same people so we can explain to them about the Parkinson’s on the first night.”

The Parkinson’s Awareness Day on April 15 is at the Old Courtroom in Huddersfield Town Hall from 10am until 3pm. The Huddersfield branch of Parkinson’s UK meets on the third Thursday in the month at the Quaker Meeting House in Paddock from 3pm until 4.30pm.