Tammy Corrigan was just 50 years old when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
In May 2022, Corrigan met with Guillaume Lamotte, MD, MSc, a neurologist and assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at University of Utah Health who specializes in movement and autonomic disorders.
“I was in his office, and after listening to my history and watching me walk and doing some testing, he said, ‘You have Parkinson’s’,” Corrigan said. “I looked at him and said, ‘I’m sorry, what?’ I didn’t know what to think or feel.”
It was a lot to process, and not only because of how young she was at the time of diagnosis. Corrigan had been experiencing odd symptoms on the right side of her body for six years before her conversation with Lamotte.
In late 2015, when Corrigan was 44 years old, she and her husband went through IVF. She had a healthy baby boy in August 2016. Six months later, Corrigan started noticing that things were different on the right side of her body.
“When I would go to the gym, I would stretch and my foot would shake a little,”
The symptoms moved up the right side of her body into her right arm. She could still use it, but there were tremors.
Her son was two years old when she went in for a brain scan.
“The scan showed some white matter changes in my brain,” she said. “They tested me for MS, but I didn’t have that.”
Corrigan’s doctor said she was too young for Parkinson’s. She was diagnosed with essential tremor and prescribed beta blockers.
The beta blockers didn’t help, but Corrigan did her best to deal with her symptoms while living life.
Corrigan, a dancer, has been doing jazz, ballet, and tap for most of her life. She danced on the crimson line at the University of Utah and has always loved staying fit.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Corrigan still exercised but couldn’t attend her weekly dance classes.
“My exercise really slowed down at that point,” she said.
Corrigan knew her gait was impacted by the tremor, and she was starting to notice more difficulties with movement in her right hand.
“I just blew it off, thinking it was essential tremor and there was nothing I could do about it,” she said.
A friend recommended that Corrigan get an appointment with a neurologist at U of U Health.
“She told me they have the best specialists and the best technology,” Corrigan said. “It took me six months to get in to see Dr. Lamotte, but it was worth the wait.”
When she first met with Dr. Lamotte and received her diagnosis, her symptoms were still fairly mild.
“She was doing very well overall when I first met with her, and I think part of that is because she is physically active and such a bright and positive person,” Lamotte said. “I knew she was interested in exercise, so I let her know about a Parkinson’s study that looked at exercise and its effects on disease progression.”
Corrigan qualified for a Study in Parkinson Disease of Exercise Phase 3 (SPARX3) clinical trial.
The main goal of SPARX3 is to learn more about the impact of exercise—specifically aerobic exercise—on people with Parkinson’s disease who have not yet started taking medication to manage their symptoms. SPARX3 is one of the biggest studies ever done on how exercise affects Parkinson’s patients. There are currently 25 sites enrolling patients in SPARX3 across North America.
Dr. Lamotte is one of the co-investigators of SPARX3 and saw Corrigan throughout the 18-month study.
“Throughout the clinical trial, participants do treadmill workouts four times a week,” Lamotte said. “Participants are monitored regularly throughout the study, and the goal is to see if regular aerobic exercise can slow down the progression of Parkinson’s."
As Parkinson’s disease progressed, Corrigan’s symptoms began to worsen. She started taking medication and continued on the study, doing treadmill workouts three to four days a week.
Corrigan visited U of U Health monthly for a supervised treadmill workout to make sure she was doing it safely and correctly. Every six months, the study team drew labs and ran a series of cognitive and physical tests to track symptom progression.
A year into the study, Corrigan had a brain scan to see if there was any change in the loss of dopamine neurons.
At the 18-month mark, Corrigan was released from the prescribed exercise program and was free to do any kind of exercise she wanted. All SPARX3 participants have a 24-month follow-up.
Corrigan continues living an active lifestyle to this day. She starts every day with 15 to 20 minutes of stretching to get her body moving. She and her husband walk and hike together often. Corrigan also lifts weights, works out on the elliptical machine at her home, and attends a local boxing gym that offers tailored workouts for people with Parkinson’s disease.
“I feel like the SPARX3 study really helped me to understand how important exercise is for people with Parkinson’s,” she said. “It not only keeps your body moving, but it also keeps your mind sharp.”
Outside of exercise, Corrigan stays busy working full-time and taking care of her eight-year-old son. She also works full time as an event planner at a local non-profit organization. Through it all, she receives immense support from her son and her husband.
“I feel so fortunate, like I am doing really well,” Corrigan said. “But there are still hard days.”
It took Corrigan a full six months to adjust to the medication, which can cause side effects such as nausea. People also often have to take medications several times per day. Luckily, Corrigan’s body is now used to the medication, and she no longer gets sick when she takes it.
“The medication helps a lot,” she said. “Before it kicks in and as soon as it starts to wear off, the symptoms come rushing back.”
The tremors aren’t the hardest part for Corrigan. It’s the anxiety.
“The anxiety comes on in full force when the medication starts to wear off,” she said. “But then I take my next dose, and I start to calm down. I call them my chill pills.”
Every once in a while, Corrigan has a day where the medication just doesn’t seem to work as well.
“It’s important to know that there will always be hard days,” she said. “But most days I wake up and am able to do what I need to do to keep moving and I just keep going.”
Corrigan is still young at 53 years old. For her, SPARX3 and a lifelong commitment to exercise and fitness has helped slow the progression of Parkinson’s.
“Fortunately, my symptoms are still confined to the right side of my body,” Corrigan said. “I’m going to continue doing all I can to stay as healthy and strong as possible.”
Learn More about the SPARX3 Clinical Trial
A study to learn more about the effects of aerobic exercise on people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who have been diagnosed in the last three years and have not started taking medications for their PD symptoms. You can visit the SPARX3 webpage for more information about the study. To be screened for enrollment, please call (801) 587-3181 or email G.Olivier@utah.edu.