As a single mum of four children, Jo Makamaka is juggling many responsibilities. She is not complaining though, just cherishing the opportunity to look after her children and take part in a host of activities which were not always within her reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jo first saw a neurologist in her early-20s in response to a collection of unusual symptoms, but it was not until many years later that she was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease after seeing neurologist and Kolling Institute Executive Director Professor Carolyn Sue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cI was just relieved to get the diagnosis, not mad,\u201d Jo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was tremendous pressure with having something wrong, but not knowing what is was. It had a huge emotional toll and was a very challenging time, with plenty of tears.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s disease and tailored treatment approach has transformed Jo\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat this has done for me is give me my life back. It\u2019s meant I\u2019ve been able to be a mum, to take my kids to school, to make lunches and even drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBefore, I would never put my hand up for simple activities like helping out at the school canteen, or signing my kids up for weekend sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t do that as I wasn\u2019t reliable, but I\u2019m now able to do things everyone else can do. I can make plans and commit to activities, and be confident I will be able to follow through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe medication is not only helping me physically, but mentally as well as I am more confident and less anxious.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Jo is tremendously grateful to Professor Sue, an internationally recognised expert on movement disorders and mitochondrial diseases. Professor Sue runs the largest clinic in Australia for patients with Mitochondrial disease, while also driving globally significant research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jo\u2019s tailored treatment was informed by the latest research and clinical experience, and she is thankful for the care she has received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cProfessor Sue is really special and her passion for what she does is amazing. Her work is really valuable and I have benefitted greatly from her expertise and experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have greatly welcomed her understanding, as she carefully listened to what I was going through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverything she does she cares about, putting her heart and soul into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am so appreciative of the care I\u2019ve had access to. The advice that I received, backed by research, has not only changed my life, but my family\u2019s experience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1942,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-1941","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop-300x207.webp",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Jo-Makamaka_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"As a single mum of four children, Jo Makamaka is juggling many responsibilities. She is not complaining though, just cherishing the opportunity to look after her children and take part in a host of activities which were not always within her reach. Jo first saw a neurologist in her early-20s in response to a collection…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5451,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1941\/revisions\/5451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1941"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=1941"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=1941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}