Experience

Testimonials: Waikanae Lions / 25th April 2019

Hi.
Kitty Fitton attended our Club meeting last night and spoke to us about her early onset of Parkinson’s and how she is managing living with the condition. I wanted to tell you that she is a most inspirational speaker and everyone in attendance was very impressed with her presentation and came away with a better knowledge of the condition.
I think she is an extremely valuable person for Parkinson’s to have communicating information and experiences of the condition and in encouraging funding support from Charitable groups such as ours throughout the wider Wellington region.
Cheers
John Todd, Secretary
Lions Club of Waikana

Greetings Kitty
My feedback has nothing to do with the fact that Im a Yorkshire born lad – though it helped explain your accent and zest for life  personality.
No, my feedback is based on over 30 years of experience of adult education.
If I were to use the 1 to 10  scale when evaluating your presentation  ( with 10 being outstanding) I would rate you as a 12.
Kitty you were brilliant – you had the room in the palm of your hands (and for a room full of old farts who have heard many guest speakers  that’s saying something!!!)
Your giftedness was well demonstrated, when our guy failed to get your power-point onto the screen for you to access).
You just carried on and worked with what you had on hand  – because you had come well prepared – and we all saw you demonstrate that you are a person who NEVER gives up especially when faced with a challenging condition like Parkinsons .
For most speakers when faced with a loss of their presentation – that would often bring things to a halt. BUT NOT KITTY.
I hope this feedback provides you with encouragement Kitty to take your message out into our Kapiti community.
I personally believe you would make a perfect NATIONAL face to help New Zealanders get a more balanced appreciation of what Parkinsons is all about.
Well done bonny lass.
It was a joy to hear and see you in all your Yorkshire passion.
Trev Mason
Director of Community Services & Membership
Waikanae Lions Club

Testimonials: Probus Kapiti

Dear Kitty
Congratulations on a fantastic motivational presentation at Probus this morning on living with Parkinson’s disease. It was both informative and inspiring. Your positivity, determination and fantastic sense of humour shone through.
Loved your dress and shoes too, very glam, gave us an image that this disease will be managed by you, rather than the disease managing you.
Thank you,
Mary Cook

Dear Kitty
First I must say how much your talk at Probus inspired my husband and I.  We are both fortunate to keep reasonably good health but we were very moved by your story and how well you are coping with this terrible disease.  As I mentioned I will talk to our Women’s Guild committee … for speakers.  We have a lot of older ladies in the Guild and I am sure they would love to hear your story.
I will be in touch once we have had our meeting.  Thanks once again for your fabulous speech and our regards to your husband who I am sure is a wonderful support to you.
Yours sincerely
Carole & John Hutchings

Hello Kitty,
You asked me to contact you by your email after I had spoken to you, on Thursday, 28th March, 2019.
It was after the wonderful talk you gave at the Probus Club of Kapiti Coast Inc, of which I am a Member.
Thank you for your amazing presentation and talk about your medical condition Parkinsons. I was absolutely amazed how positive, active, amusing and so knowledgeable you are on the subject. I have been to many Medical conventions, presentations and talks covering Heart, Arthritis, Asthma and skin Cancers. I trained as a General Nurse at Hutt Hospital, Lower Hutt in the 60s and am always interested in keeping up to date, on all subjects in the Medical field. In saying this, not one compared to your excellent positiveness, humour and how you told it, as it is for you.
Believe me, we all enjoyed listening to you and many comments have come back to me…. mainly “wish all the speakers we’ve had at Probus, were so interesting and honest.”
All the very best to you and your Family and I sincerely hope that the Future, new medication and your bubbling personality help you on your journey through Life.
Jennie Cavaye.

Waikanae Women’s Institute – February 2019

Oh – the ladies at the WI were so kind! We found there was nowhere to set up slides, so I just went for it and to be honest, I found it went just as well. My poor daughter Miss 13 came along for the ride and told me she felt very young. We left with some lovely compliments, happy smiles and a very useful cookbook.

Testimonials:

Hi Kitty
We all  loved the sharing of your unique insights into living with Parkinson’s last Monday for the Waikanae Women’s Guild.
I almost found an excuse not to attend but what a show I would have missed!!  You were so good for us.  Yes we’re all trying to conserve our precious brain cells and for some of us they are disappearing fast along with all the other things we keep misplacing!!
You certainly challenged my stereo types of Parkinson’s…although I do think it must be a most tiring  companion!
I loved your dynamic style and engaging manner.  You were so articulate refreshing and very funny! May your zest for life never leave you!  Thanks again…
(I’m the one who gave you the vote of thanks and today I looked at your website and wanted to add these comments to it…)
Barbara Henly
 

Parkinson’s Support Group – Lower Hutt February 2019

It was a sheer delight to meet the Parkinson’s Support Group in Lower Hutt. It’s always good to talk to people that really understand what it’s like to deal with this every day. The feedback I received was that they felt it was a “breath of fresh air” and helped some feel more positive about things. And really, that’s why I do this. It’s great to get up there and talk, but if I can help people feel better too then that’s fantastic.

Tech-week – An Introduction to Web Development – May 2018

I was asked to talk about changing career into web development by the good people at the PHP User Group in Wellington. I delivered a ten minute talk about the trials and tribulations of being a woman in the technology sector. I was utterly delighted to receive unsolicited random feedback on Twitter that I was the stand-out speaker of the night.
 

Parkinson’s Seminar – September 2017

I complained to Parkinson’s NZ that I never saw any young people with the disease. I didn’t see good news stories and I wanted to know where all the ‘young people’ were. They asked me to put my money where my mouth was and speak at their seminar in Sepetember 2017.

I gave a 25 minute talk and received a standing ovation.

Complete strangers came up to me afterwards and told me how much I had helped them.

I knew then I wanted to go out and talk and educate people about Parkinson’s Disease.

 

The Dominion Post – November 2017

They told me I had Parkinson’s, so I took up flying – with the kids in the back

Joel Maxwell

21:36, Nov 16 2017

A single-engine plane trundled down its runway with Helen Fitton at the controls, her flying instructor beside her, and two of her kids in the back, before they all soared off the ground.

“My daughter was going, ‘But you’re scared of flying’, and I’m going, ‘Not any more’.”

The incident, in April, came after Fitton was told last year that she had Parkinson’s disease.

“I came home and cried solidly for about three or four days,” she said of the shock diagnosis.

Her first thoughts were “Isn’t that like, really bad? … You think Michael J Fox, Muhammad Ali”.

Parkinson’s is typically more prevalent in those over 60. It is a progressive, degenerative disorder of the brain, with gradual symptoms that can include tremors, loss of muscle control and loss of co-ordination. It is not fatal.

For Fitton, who lives on the Kāpiti Coast, north of Wellington, it started in June 2015, with a limp, then a tumble when she was chasing her 5-year-old son. Then the mother of four found she was struggling with her left hand when playing the piano.

The condition, which was yet to stop her doing anything, had actually “spurred me on”, she said.

“Because it does make you take a long, hard look at your life. I wanted to be a scout leader and my husband said, ‘Why don’t you do Air Scouts?’, and I said, ‘Don’t be crazy, I hate flying’.”

That was the point, she said: to prove to herself she could still do anything.

“For a while you think you can’t, and you believe you can’t. But I went off and I learned how to fly a plane.”

Originally from Yorkshire, in northern England, she speaks with laconic, unsentimental humour about people getting the kitty-eyed “Puss in Boots from Shrek” look when she tells them she has Parkinson’s.

“I get really grumpy when people go, ‘Oh Helen, you’re such an inspiration’.

“I go, ‘no, I’m not, I’m just a normal person’ … You fall apart for a while, then you pick yourself up again and you keep going.”

In addition to learning to fly, she has retrained in web design and development. “Now I’m at the pointy end, and trying to get a job.”

The Dominion Post – November 2017