Parkinson’s is draining this Ontario couple. Price to fight disease will only increase

According to a economic report conducted by Parkinson Canada, the disease comes with a hefty price tag for patients and caregivers, with costs expected to hit $4.4 billion by 2034.

After more than 54 years of marriage, John and Carol Phillips are facing their biggest struggle yet: Carol’s expensive battle with Parkinson’s disease.

According to Parkinson’s Canada, the costs of this complex disease are expected to hit $4.4 billion by 2034 in Canada, putting many patients and caregivers, like the Phillips, in serious economic turmoil.

Carol, diagnosed at 59 years old, is now 77 and in the late stages of the disease. This new reality has drastically reshaped her life and her husband’s financial stability.

Her condition has not only robbed her of mobility and speech but has also forced her husband John, a retired sales VP, to exhaust their savings and even sell their family home to cover costs that the Ontario health system doesn’t.

According to John, it’s “nowhere near enough.”

For John, the progression has heartbreaking not only financially but emotionally as well.

“She was a bright woman. She had a mind like a steel trap,” he said, recalling Carol’s years as a school principal and curriculum writer.

All that changed five years ago during a visit from the Burlington couple’s daughter on a Saturday afternoon. The family was spending quality time, watching TV, when Carol experienced a rather sudden, terrifying episode where she hallucinated, screaming that figures were “walking on the walls” and “on the ceilings,” John said.