Master of Minds is back with its third installment with Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s. With the purpose to bring awareness of the neurodegenerative disease. But also with the real life patience that are determined to face Parkinson’s disease and how they go about living their lifes with it.

The Synopsis

In Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s, three people navigate their lives with resourcefulness and determination in the face of a degenerative illness, Parkinson’s disease. An optician pursues deep brain stimulation surgery; a mother raising a pre-teen daughter becomes a boxing coach and an advocate for exercise; and a cartoonist contemplates how he will continue to draw as his motor control declines.

About the Three Parkinson’s Warriors 

Peter Dunlap-Shohl is diagnosed with PD at the age of 43. As a political cartoonist, he contemplates his future and how he will continue to draw as his motor control declines. In his home state of Alaska, there are no Parkinson’s specialists, so he moves to Washington state for better care. He transforms his journey, with its comedic highs and somber lows, into a graphic novel.

Veronica Garcia-Hayes lives in San Francisco’s Mission District. She was diagnosed with PD when she was pregnant. Twelve years later, she manages progressing symptoms while raising a preteen daughter. She channels her energy into physical fortitude, becoming a boxing coach and an advocate for exercise, one of the most powerful methods of slowing the progression of PD. 

Juan Solano is a Puerto Rican optician. He owns a mom-and-pop eyeglass shop in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood, but worries for the business’ survival as his PD symptoms grow more acute. In hopes of altering the disease’s progression, he pursues deep brain stimulation, a surgery in which electrodes are implanted in the brain.

Latino Review Media was granted an exclusive clip from Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s where  Dr.Brian Kopell, a neurosurgeon explains deep brain stimulation (DBS) to a patient as an option to treat Parkinsons. While at the same time explains the risks. A treatment can help but few receive it because they don’t know about this option or others find it intimidating.

Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s will debut on PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS on Monday, April 8, 2024, at 10 p.m. (check local listings). The film will be available to stream on the PBS App.

Source: PBS, Independent Lens

About Independent LensINDEPENDENT LENS is an Emmy® Award-winning PBS documentary series. With founding executive producer Lois Vossen, the series has been honored with 10 Academy Award nominations and features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Acton Family Giving, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. Stream anytime on the PBS App. For more visit pbs.org/independentlens.