A Lifelong Learner, Still On the Go

A Lifelong Learner, Still On the Go - theHumm July 2021

By Sally Smith

There’s a “thief” in Araina Clark’s life.

“It takes away a lot of things, things you never realized it could, but one by one it marches through and takes….” Araina talks about the thief bluntly: “Reading has become more challenging. The thief took it early.”

She talks about “him” waiting around a corner, waiting to steal again next week, next month, in a few minutes.

“For me, the progression [of Parkinson’s Disease] has been slow, but I felt every loss, was amazed how my life was broken down into so many blocks, tiles, and then disseminated.”

“I was in awe,” Araina says. “I never caught up. I just kept losing, losing, losing…”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” she adds wryly.

Araina has a lifetime of learning under her belt, and though the thief has quietly and insidiously stolen many things, she’s still learning, tackling life with gusto, passing along what she can.

The diagnosis came in 2005, a short year after she retired from 38 years of nursing. “Then it happened — the start of the thefts.”

Growing up in the ’50s and early ’60s, girls at the time had a choice of two careers — nursing or secretarial work. She didn’t even think about it, she says — she chose nursing and received a Registered Nursing Diploma in Regina in 1967. She and her husband Gord, who worked for the provincial government of Saskatchewan, eventually left the province and headed east to Ontario, where Gord continued his own career (but with the federal government) and Araina continued nursing.

Initially she started at the Heart Institute, working alongside Dr. Wilbert Keon for five years. Then she headed to a paediatric allergist’s office, before walking through the doors of the Queensway-Carleton Hospital. Her evenings were filled with learning and work too. She taught at Algonquin and the National Defence Medical Centre.

“She had five or six balls in the air at one time,” Gord says.

“I learned a lot with [Dr. Keon]. That’s probably where learning cemented with me. I couldn’t get enough, picked up every book, enjoyed what I did.” She says people often asked her why she was driven to read and learn so much. She answered with a certain glint in her eye: “I don’t understand the question”.

Araina knew when her arms began to swing awkwardly as she walked that something was not right; from that time it took her eight years “to admit something was wrong.” She remembers her reaction. “It was not acceptable to me. I needed to get enough education… and still wouldn’t admit it was happening.”

Admitting she had Parkinson’s helped. After that, she began to “make something of it,” but, she says, she will “never really have it completely resolved.”

A move to Almonte was a fresh start that Araina used to make new friends, join committees, put her brain to work on other tasks, move in different directions… and keep learning.

Answering an ad, she became part of a Patient and Family Advisory Committee at the Almonte General Hospital, where she served two three-year terms on the board. “It was what I was looking for. I made friends I would never have met any other way.” Gord adds his own thoughts: “She was a bonus to them. She added a lot of expertise.”

She also joined the Mississippi Mills Accessibility Advisory Committee which she now attends via Zoom. “We’ve made some accessibility changes to the washrooms in Gemmill Park,” and made suggestions to improve both walking surfaces as well as surfaces for wheels of a walker or wheelchair. The committee also made changes at the rink for door openers, and at the library to make it easier for wheelchairs to scoot under shelves.

There’s a just-try-and-stop-me gleam in her eye when she talks about a much-needed restoration of Almonte’s 100-year-old main street infrastructure. “A lot has got to be replaced. We can put our accessibility things where we want.” With some imagination, you can see her rubbing her hands in glee.

And once a week she started to go with some other ladies to a day-away program through Carebridge Community Support, which “gives everybody a break,” she laughs. She knows, too, that her kids have her back, frequently telling her about things they think she could use.

Araina golfed for many years but now accompanies Gord to the course on occasion, riding in the cart, doing a bit of putting and enjoying the socializing at the nineteenth hole. “I’m gonna blow off that thief,” she says grinning, defiance in her soft voice.

Getting back to reading, which is returning bit by bit, Araina says it’s not cognition or eyesight, but rather “comprehension, changing the written word into memory.” She has tried darkening the room, turning off music; everything she could to “induce the essence of reading.” It’s been twelve years since she read a book cover to cover, but she’s working on it.

Dancing is also close to her heart. “There’s a rhythm there. Maybe for everything Parkinson’s takes away, it puts back some rhythm.”

She does wonder at times, though, with all the money put into and raised for Parkinson’s research through the telethons, “where are the successes?”

So she’ll be participating again this year at the Lanark North Leeds Parkinson Canada SuperWalk, which takes place on Saturday, September 11 with a Virtual Opening Ceremony at 11am. At 1pm, registered participants are welcome to join an Exercise Class in Carleton Place, Smiths Falls or Perth, or “Walk Your Own Way” in your neighbourhood. To register, donate, or for more information and details, visit donate.parkinson.ca/lanarknorthleeds or call 1–800– 565–3000 x3392. All activities will follow provincial Covid guidelines.

Araina is 75 this year. In her three-quarters of a century she’s nursed for close to four decades, been married for over five decades, has a name that few (if any) others have, has successfully (along with her husband) raised two children, and is now managing Parkinson’s Disease.

She wonders if she learned enough in her life. She thinks sometimes her life hasn’t exactly turned out the way she pictured it — especially when the “thief” came along and screwed up the planning. She asks herself if she’s learned enough.

Then she sits back and realizes she’s still learning…

Danielle Barabé-Bussières: Nature/Wildlife Photographer - theHumm July 2021

By Sally Hansen

Art… and Soul

“Nature is the place to be,” according to nature and wildlife photographer Danielle Barabé-Bussières. Danielle celebrates her love of the natural world by capturing stunning images and transforming them into works of art. She has a gift for composition, a talent for exploiting the extensive capabilities of current post-processing software, and the dedication and patience needed to create an extraordinary photographic work of art from an excellent photograph.

Take a ......

A Lifelong Learner, Still On the Go - theHumm July 2021