My Journey Through School 

The Beginning of My Medical Journey

In the fall of 1971 I finally started school. I say it that way because I was a big six years old and my Mom made me wait a year because I was too busy. Really what does that mean? To busy? I think it means hyper. I remember the first year of school like yesterday mostly because the kids in that kindergarten class were with me in the spring of 1984 when I got my high school diploma and many are still with me today.

Kindergarten was a breeze. You went to school ate graham crackers, knocked down blocks and sang songs with Valerie McBride, Adele Carne and Rebecca Horton. We sang the songs they taught us and we made up our own as we went along. I still remember the words. My teachers must have loved it because I never missed a day that first year. They seemed much older at the end of the school year then they did in the fall.

As I cruised through Jamestown School I played every sport. I did not say I was good I said I played them all. Soccer, flag football, basketball and track. I loved every minute of it. In junior high at lunch time I would play HORSE with Anita Sanchez, she ALWAYS won, played baseball and chatted with everyone that wanted to chat. Yes all in one recess.

Friday nights were dances in the gym. What a blast. I got to dance with the triplets Mindy, Molly and Melody. I boogied with Becky Fray and Jackie Haughy. My final 8th grade dance was with Kellie Hutchenson (Jones) We had nick named her Boom Boom and Kellie ALWAYS made me laugh. She was a good friend in bad times and a good friend in good times. A pure heart and a class act. There were laughing spells with Terry Crane, school plays, band and so many fun memories. We had no secrets. We were family.

As we moved onto Sonora High School the stage was the same just a bigger campus and instead of being panthers we were now WILDCATS! My freshman year was great. I was in band played baseball and was in the school play. I still remember the first day of school as my brother was a junior and within minutes one of his buddies tied me to a flag pole. To this day I can’t believe the teacher blamed me for being late for class. Like I actually tied myself to that pole.

At the start of my sophomore year my world started to change. It was homecoming week and George and I were coming home late. To this day I swear to you he was not driving fast and I was doing my best job of chatting his head off to make sure he stayed awake. My conversation must have been pointless because he fell asleep anyway. As we rounded a corner on Rawhide road over the bank we rolled. It was my first concussion and from that day on the headaches were daily.

 At the start of my junior year I was playing a game of basketball in PE and it happened again. I went to get the ball during a scramble and I hit heads with another kid and fell and hit my head on the floor. I was put on the bench and within minutes fell over and hit the floor with my head again. I was in no where land. The next thing I remember I was standing outside the gym looking for the locker room. A kid took me to the coach and he sent me to the office. Dr. Borgquist said it was concussion number 2.

A few months later while playing basketball I once again hit the floor and you guessed it concussion number 3 in less than two years. This time Dr B said I should avoid basketball for a while. My headaches really amped up then and were a daily pounding routine.

At the start of my Senior year I was sitting at the first Friday football game of the year I was no longer in band so I decided I would help my buddy Kym Berry with the cheering stuff. Kym and I did a radio show together on Monday mornings called “The Berry Good Hamilton Show.” The show was a blast as I would spin the records and Kym would dance all over the control room. On this night Kym was a cheerleader leading us in rooting for our team  and every time she needed the crowd to yell I did because well…..If you knew Kym you would know why. Kym was the greatest sweetest friend I could ever have and I would go fish on the moon if she asked me to.

Towards the end of the game the cheer coach Sherry Juhl came into the grandstands and says to me “I think you would be a great male cheerleader.” I thought to myself “and you lady just dropped a record in your jukebox.” I told her “my legs would not look as good as Kym’s and Julie’s in that awful skirt and yellow leggings were not my color.” She took a step back and over her shoulder I saw Steve Southard standing on track looking at me with his big goofy grin giving me the thumbs up. I was like shoot I can never say no to Southard I respect him with every ounce of energy I had in my body.

When I refocused, Sherry said "I even have another guy who will do it if you will". I could not help but wonder how two suckers ended up at the same game that Friday night. I agreed to come to practice and see what I thought and would give her an answer then.

When I showed up Monday there was Kym all ready with the jumps and lifts we were going to do. We fell over each other, I dropped her, I fell trying cart wheels, I dropped her, we laughed and well I dropped her. The truth though I had a BLAST! I also met my new friend Erik Spiess. The clincher was when I was told I would be riding in the van with the team. The cheer team. Who would not want to ride to all the games with this great group of girls? Sherry Juhl was a great coach for all of us and made the season fun.

Before I knew it I had laughed my way through my senior year and got straight A’s in the process. The day before prom we were on ditch day and going down the tube run. I fell in the water and when I stood up there was Kym laughing at me and from behind I got run over by another tube. I was knocked to the bottom of the pool and hit my head getting a black eye. My prom picture with Michelle Skoglund shows a big black eye. When I picked up Michelle she just laughed and I said “maybe you don’t want to know.” I of course told her all about it. I love that girl and to this day she is a loyal friend with an amazingly golden heart.

These head shots and concussions would prove to be a challenge a few years later.

Soon we graduated and we were off to college. I said goodbye to great friends like TJ Pilchard, Triina Turula and Kristin Schilling (Eaton). I did not know that forever these people would live in my memories and better yet still be a big part of my life.

Note: A few years later my friend Kym Berry would go to heaven early. She was my champion and a dear friend of Krishna and I. I will forever see her sweet smile, hear her crazy laugh and  most of all I will always remember throwing her in the air and the many times I did catch her. She lives on in the hearts of many and at night I still see her in my dreams.

There is more then enough room in my fathers house. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready I will come get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

Jesus Christ

John 14:2-3

So the class of 1984 was on our way into the world. We were going to conquer all obstacles that were placed in our way. Little did I know that the obstacles ahead would be very challenging but God had a plan and he would soon send me someone very special to travel with me as I made my way on “My Journey.”

Lisa Bynum is one of the prettiest girls ever and is now a beautiful woman. She has an amazing heart as well. We were on the bus headed for a BIG football game. In high school they were all BIG football games.

Here is she! Just look at that smile. What a wonderful girl. Kym and I were selected Most Spirited our Senior year.
 (Please excuse the pen I snapped this from my yearbook) I owe much of my Faith in Jesus that I have to Kym, When we were young she told me about her church Sierra Bible and one day that church would save my spiritual life.

Deena Ravicchio was, is and always will be one of my most favorite people in the world. She was in AFS and I think she went to Wisconsin. When she returned I nick named her Ravicchioski. That did not stick but the the impact she has on my heart did. During Spirit Week we dressed Hawaiian and Deena used my height to stand out in the crowd.

This is one handsome guy. This is June 1984 at my graduation. I will never trade those days at Sonora High School for anything. We had it all and some more.

My Journey Through Childhood

The Early Days

To understand where I am and where I might be going in my life, you must

first understand where I came from. From my earliest memory, I have been

on the move. I have always been running, jumping, hopping, talking and

moving. My summer days were never spent in the house because if I ever

said I was bored my mom would have put me to work.

I felt like I lived in the middle of nowhere. We had no neighbor kids to play

with, no local park, community swimming pool or game room. Instead, we

had 6 siblings, my grandparent’s ranch, the now vacant old golf course with

hundreds of wooded acres, the creek to swim in and our game room was

nature’s gigantic offering of trees, deep grass and old animal trails that were

certainly once used by Indians, pilgrims, cowboys and old mountain men.

We would go fishing at least once a week. Our walk took us down Soldier

Creek. We climbed over rocks, swung on grapevines, hunted for gold and

fought many battles against great warriors. An old stick made a great gun,

sword and walking cane. In late summer we ate blackberries along the creek

banks and there were ALWAYS cherry tomatoes, peas, radishes, corn  and so much more hiding in grandpa’s garden.

As summer rolled into fall, there were berry picking trips for canning day,

woodcutting at the ranch with the Jardines, cows to milk, eggs to collect and

animals to butcher for the freezer. Grandpa saw to it we had lamb, beef and

homemade butter while mom and dad saw to the eggs, rabbit meat, pork

and whatever animal was hunted for that year,

Winters were spent listening to mom read late at night by the fire. We

traveled across the country with Pa and Ma Ingalls; we were educated by

Little Tree, lived on islands in the mountains and under the sea. All this just in the stories mom read to us those long cold nights. At night we listened to the mountain lions and coyotes outside our door and knew we were safe as Dad was always close by.

When the rain stopped and spring came, life started again with baby lambs,

calves and pony rides. The best games were the ones we made up all by our

little ol’ selves. I remember one day we were playing cowboy and my lasso was an old yellow rope and my wild mustang was the family pony. I remember the first time I finally roped that thing around the neck. He was on a full run and just as I yelled “I got one,” the rope hit the end and off I sailed in the air. I can still see the look on my brother George’s face. It was a look of “why did the idiot not let go?” I realized my error and finally let go only after being drug through the whole yard and half way through my grandparent’s field.

When the blue birds stopped flying in my noggin, I could hear George saying

“Why didn’t you let go?” To which I replied “I did! Just not as soon as I should

have.” I think I was 10 years old and may be that was my first concussion

but I will never know because we then had to catch the pony to remove the

lasso.

There were movie nights at the Up Town Theater in downtown Sonora. We

got our burgers at the Jimtown Frosty and Fosters Freeze. I remember getting pizza at the Pick and then Jan Darone would enter my life and pizza was at Mountain Steamer Pizza which was also the place of my first job.

My parents enrolled us in 4-H in 1974 and today, some 42 years later, I am

still enrolled. I raised pigs with people like the Wittmans, Kirkwoods and

Moyles. The best times were at the Mother Lode Fair showing our rabbits,

pigs and an occasional lamb. I never won many awards but we had so much

fun. I still remember the year we hauled the pigs to the fair in the back of a

station wagon. Yup, that is a story for a different Blog.

I still remember the year the rodeo came to the fair. I was having a giggling

contest with Mary Macon (Lopez) late one night and we saw a gigantic bull

running through the barns. There were cowboys chasing it, trying to rope it

and I thought heck I have done that before. That is when I realized the bull

had a lasso around its neck. I walked over and picked up the lasso this time I

was smart enough to NOT hold onto the rope. I handed it to one of the

cowboys that was chasing the bull and I said “Good Luck! If he runs let go.”

Looking back I must say it was peaches. I had the best of everything. Life

was great. I also realize we had it hard but who didn’t? It was the 1970’s in

Tuolumne County and unemployment was high and the world was an

interesting place. But I have a secret. God had blessed me with the best life

EVER! I was being raised in what I would later realize was the best

community in the world, I was going to school with people that would

become my lifelong friends. Friends that  continue to love and support me as I travel on "My Journey".

My Journey

By Ron Hamilton 

In July 2016 I was working the swine show at the Mother Lode Fair when I suddenly could not get my hands to write the words on the paper. My daughter Emily was there and I said "This is weird I have never had my Chiari do this to my hands." ( Chiari is the name of the brain injury I had surgery for in 1999. More on that will follow.)

Throughout the next few weeks I continued to have the problem. I also started to notice that I was having the shakes. Then one day it hit me....What if its Parkinson's? Eventually that would be the diagnosis.

The purpose of this Blog is to share with others my journey through Parkinson's Disease and the challenges I face each day. My hope is to share information about  new research, my struggles and my triumphs. Most importantly I hope that through all of it I can bring glory to the God I serve.

My plan is to just type. Easy for some, but remember I have the shakes and wiggles so I will have errors in my spelling and typing so please forgive that and just go after the information. I will mostly write in the middle of the night as I do not sleep well and writing helps clear my mind. It is also the best time to do laundry because no one is taking a shower and using all the hot water.

I will be adding little stories about my life, my days and trying to keep you informed and entertained. I will be using your name. For some people that is a scary thought but what I want to do is share with the world how blessed I am to have people in my life that I love so much because you all have shown me so much love through the years.

My first few posts will be a a quick 3 or 4 day trip into my past. This is not met to be boring for you but there is information in those posts that I will often refer back to as I explain how I came to the diagnosis of Parkinson's. I encourage you to read those as it will have information of injuries that I had that may have helped lead to my Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. You might also find your name along the way.:)

I also really encourage you to write responses. It helps to know someone is actually reading these. Not post to correct me but maybe new information you have or a fun story you want to share about our lives together.

So here we go. Sit back, relax and thank you for joining me on "My Journey".