I thought Parkinson’s had taken my mum away. Then we began playing poker

Even as disease strips a woman piece by piece, a deeply familiar card game brings her briefly back.

August 6, 2026 — 7:00pm

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Her eyes are closed on the screen.

“Mum, can you nod if you can hear me?”

She nods. Then her face goes still. The video call feels like looking at a photograph. My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nine years ago, though the tremor had been there long before.

“This runs in the family,” she used to say whenever we suggested she see a doctor. “My grandmother’s hands shook – she lived to 90. My uncle’s hands have shaken for years. He’s 89. It’s a family trait.”

By 2017, her feet seemed glued to the floor whenever she tried to take a first step. When she finally saw a doctor, the disease had already reached an intermediate stage. I watched Parkinson’s strip her away slowly, piece by piece.

She lost the ability to walk unaided. Her handwriting, once neat, became unsteady, then unrecognisable. She could no longer sign her name. Her voice softened and thinned, as if she had a cold that never........

© The Age