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Isakson discloses that he has Parkinsons
Sen Johnny Isakson
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson
Staff Report
editor@bryancountynews.com
Updated: Jun 10, 2015, 3:37 PM
Published: Jun 10, 2015, 3:45 PM

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said in a statement issued Wednesday that he has Parkinson’s disease.

The 70-year-old veteran senator said he was first diagnosed in 2013 after seeing a neurologist in 2012 for stiffness in his left arm. He added that he still will run for a third Senate term in 2016.

“My diagnosis has not impacted my ability to represent the state of Georgia in the U.S. Senate,” Isakson said. “I am serving on five Senate committees and am the only Republican serving as chairman of two Senate committees. I am busier and have more responsibility today than ever before in my political career, and I couldn’t be happier about that. I remain devoted to public service, to my state and to my constituents. I am eager to take my record of results to the voters of Georgia as I run for re-election in 2016.”

Gov. Nathan Deal, a fellow Republican, quickly issued a statement in support of Georgia’s senior senator.

“In the 35 years that I’ve known Johnny Isakson, he has risen to meet — and overcome — every obstacle he’s encountered with determination and a smile on his face,” Deal said. "There’s not a doubt in my mind that he and Dianne will rise to meet this challenge. As he fights this battle, our distinguished senator will continue representing Georgians’ conservative principles in Washington."

Isakson said he is in the “early stages of the disease, and my main symptoms are the stiffness in my left arm and a slowed, shuffling gait.”

“The recovery from the back surgery I had in October 2014 also has affected my gait,” he said. “I have undergone rigorous physical therapy; I do exercises every morning and evening; and I take two Parkinson’s medicines.”

Isakson’s news release also included a statement from his treating neurologist, Dr. Thomas M. Holmes, based in Marietta.

Holmes said that based on his most recent assessment of Isakson, the senator “is in Stage 1.5 of five accepted stages of Parkinson's disease.” Holmes added that Isakson “has been dedicated to performing the physical therapy and maintaining the daily exercise routine, and he has been compliant with his medication treatment.”

“He has continued to maintain his rigorous Senate schedule without difficulty since 2012,” Holmes said. “I believe he is fully capable of continuing to perform his duties as a U.S. senator, and I believe he is fully capable of running for re-election and serving for another term.

 

“As a practicing neurologist,” Holmes continued, “I have treated many patients with various chronic neurological diseases, and I encourage all them to pursue their livelihoods with vigor and enthusiasm. With this in mind, I have encouraged Sen. Isakson to do the same.”

Isakson said he struggled with whether he should disclose his diagnosis. But he concluded that he wanted to be open with his constituents.

“While I am facing this health challenge head-on, I have wrestled with whether to disclose it publicly,” he said. “I recently shared the news with my three grown children and my senior staff a couple of months ago. Their support, along with the steadfast support of my wife, Dianne, helped me to take this step today. In the end, I decided I should handle my personal health challenge with the same transparency that I have championed throughout my career.”

According to “frequently asked questions” included in Isakson’s news release, Parkinson's disease is a chronic movement disorder and symptoms progress over time. More than 1 million people in the United States are living with the disease, which has no known cause or cure. Despite that, there are treatment options to help manage symptoms, including physical therapy, exercises, medication and surgery.

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Later yall, its been fun
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Ted O'Neil
Updated: May 23, 2018, 6:03 PM
Published: May 23, 2018, 6:05 PM

This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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