Q & A with Allie Signorelli

I chat with Allie about finding each other thru this awesome PD community to talk all things PD as well as advocating for a cure

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, it's Tim on the mic. Talking to my PDP, feeling alright. Parkinson's warriors shining so bright. Sharing the stories, ready to fight. My PD Peeps.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Hey guys, what is Shaking? This is Tim from My PD Party, welcoming you to the first ever edition of the My PD Peeps Pod, where we're going to discuss uh Parkinson's warriors' journeys, um, what works for them, what doesn't, help each other a little bit, and uh just learn some stories, learn a little bit about each other. When I first decided I wanted to do this, there was absolutely nobody else that I could have thought of uh that I wanted to ask to be for on the first episode. Um I will try and get through this without tearing up, I promise. Um she is the most amazing person, she has done so much for me. She's opened doors for me in this world in this community, and I will never ever forget that she was the first person to ever reach out for me when I felt alone in this community. And that goes a long way because that's what this community is all about. Um I had the pleasure of hanging with her for a little bit in New York with her caregiver and wonderful husband Mike. Um, she has two beautiful kids, Ava and Bobby, and the most important part of the family as our as our online mascot beans, um, which a lot of people, I don't think the world can move on with their life in the morning until they have coffee and they see they know what's going on with beans. So if you've been living under a rock and you don't know who this young lady is, I call her Allie, Miss Allison singer Allie. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Oh, Tim Walker, you're so cute. Okay, first of all, last night I um recorded a story and I was like, do we think we've had enough bean content? And so a bunch of people wrote me back and were like, we're only here for bean.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

That's the only thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Don't stop or we're out. Beans in charge of the whole everybody loves beans.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Um listen, uh you I know from talking to you, being friends with you, you have sat down with some leading doctors, scientists, celebrities. So I promise this will probably be the most unprofessional podcast you've ever done.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Oh, and that's why I'm here. You're the by the way, you're the only one I've said yes to this summer. That sounds obnoxious, but I decided to take most of the summer off because I just felt completely burned out. So that's how much I love you right back. That I was like, I'll I'll put on makeup for you. Why not?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Well, I mean, listen, what are you really doing? Here, Hero of Advocacy Award with the the Fox MVP, uh big plan of the National Part of the Pass Parkinson's plan. Um, I mean, really, do you have any free time on your hands? I mean, what do you do these days?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

It's it's been a like a crazy, crazy journey. I think I don't know that I could have envisioned that this would literally become my full-time gig after I had to give up my my my quote unquote real job. Um, I was doing fundraising actually for Alzheimer's, as you know, or I think you know, um, and had a bunch of really cool clients in the brain health space um doing really amazing events all across the country, but it just got to be so much that I couldn't I was having trouble keeping up to the standards for which I had set for myself and for my clients, and I just knew it was time to um take a break. So after that, of course, because I can't literally and figuratively sit still, I started doing started doing this advocacy work, and it's just kind of grown and grown and grown. And I think I've said this before, and I it's I I give a little opening talk when I host the uh Fox Foundation's PDIQ, but in many ways I feel like I was sort of made for this moment, like in my life. Like everything I did career-wise led to me being in this role, um, you know, being in a brain health advocate and then getting your own brain health disease. Like I just I think I was uniquely prepared to know what to do pretty much from the moment I was diagnosed. So yeah, it's been a roll, it's been a roller coaster. It's been a great roller coaster, but it's been nice to have some downtime this summer, too.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

But I will tell you, for all the work that you put in, and as tiring as it probably gets and exhausting as you probably as exhausted as you probably are, I had the pleasure of being with you when when you won that Hero of Avaxi award um in the city. And I gotta tell you, I teared up as as much as you. I could tell, and you were not expecting that. No. And it was amazing to watch your reaction and to show the love that the room showed you was absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

You know what's crazy, Tim, is that no, first of all, I had no idea they kept it a secret for me, which was amazing. Um, but I also sort of feel like I've always been on the flip side, right? Like I was the people putting on that kind of event and pointing out who the heroes of advocacy were or making sure they felt recognized. And so to be on the flip side of it is such a surreal experience. I have a lot of like imposter syndrome. Like I even that night I was kind of embarrassed. I was like, I don't deserve a hero of advocacy award. Like I it just felt very surreal. Um, but I think all of us, any of us, just want to feel appreciated and loved for the work that we do, for the humans that we are. And so then when there's like a whole room full of people cheering for you, like it was very, very overwhelming, but but really appreciated.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Listen, tell me, let let's let's get off the non-celebrity side of Ally. Give me a brief little story about your Parkinson's journey as far as how it started, symptoms, what age you were, I mean, some of the difficulties you had to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yeah, um, seven years ago this summer, and you'll appreciate this reference because you're a soccer dad too. Um, I was sitting at Ava's high school soccer tryouts. So she was in club soccer, she had played soccer her whole life. We had traveled all across the country. I was well equipped to sit in the stands and watch, as I always did. Um, and it was like sitting on the face of the sun in Washington, D.C. that summer. It was so hot and we're in Arlington. But um, I was sitting outside watching her try out for for high school varsity, and there was this twitch in my ankle that had been there off and on, maybe for about six months at that point. Um, and I really didn't attribute it to very much. I thought, oh well, it's just like you know, when you get like a muscle twitch in your eye and it just doesn't go away for a while. Yeah, it just didn't really bother me, except that at that point I was like, huh, this has been a long time. You know, like six months is a long time. Um, and so I mentioned it to Mike, who you just alluded to as my husband and also have known since I was three years old.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

He's a he's a great man.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, he's a great guy. Um, we grew up together in Jersey. Um and I mentioned it to him, and he was like, Yeah, you should talk to your doctor about that because that's been a while. You know, it's been too long. Um, and I still didn't even mention it to her until my annual physical that fall. So it was almost a year. And she did, I really love her. So if she ever were to see this, I wouldn't want her to think I'm bashing her, but she did the typical, well, you're probably stressed and it's anxiety and you're working too much, and dot that try potassium, try this, try that. Um, and so because she didn't think it was a big deal, I didn't think it was a big deal. You know, I kind of just kept moving on. But then it started to slowly creep. My big toe on that side, on my right side, started doing this thing we called thumper. Um, and so that was 2018, all the way through 2019, it continued. Um, it started to become a hand tremor. Um, at some point, I don't really remember when, but at some point it became a hand tremor. And then I was like, okay, I need to like calm down, work less. And then it was 2020.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Well, because your thoughts start going with you too, and that's not helping.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yeah, yeah. And and I and I did notice that the more anxious I was, the more anxiety I felt, the worse it was. So then I was like, okay, well, that just proves her point, right? Like it's caused by anxiety. But then 2020 came and it was like all hell broke loose for the whole globe. And I was working literally on my laptop all day long, from you know, 13, 14, 15 now to day is trying to keep my clients raising money in a time when nobody was giving money and it's hard. Keep the kids alive and keep the house running and micro.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

The little things.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah, it was just the little things. Um, and so I kind of put it off for that whole year of 2020. Um, but by the end of 2020, I was in full-blown Parkinson syndrome. So up and down my right side, I was having trouble walking, I was having trouble typing, I couldn't function really, truly. And so I quit my full-time my I had I was a freelance consultant, but I had one client that was full-time. I quit. Um, and I was like, okay, this is it, this is my moment. I'm gonna be Zen. Now I'm gonna be calm, everything's gonna be fine, which of course, with Parkinson's, it just doesn't work that way. So, as we know, so 2021 to 2022, it didn't get better. Um, and yeah, so by 2022, I finally went back to a neurologist I had been seeing for a while, and he had me do the clinical exam that we've all done that looks similar to uh field sobriety test. Um and he left me in the room for a long, long time. And I thought, okay, this something's wrong. Like he's never disappeared. And I started to think that maybe he had forgotten I was there and I was gonna leave.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

You hope he's not in the back Googling.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I kind of thought maybe I was gonna be on the news. What does she have? Um, like they forgot I was in there. Um and he came back in and he had this young associate with him, and I was like, that's weird. And he he I looked, it was like out of a movie. He had his mask. We were still masked at that time. He took off his mask and he looked at me and he was like, I think I know what it is. And I was like, Okay, great. It's been like I had been seeing him for two years. It had been four years at that point that I was having symptoms. He was like, I think it's Parkinson's disease. And I literally, it literally was the first time he had ever said that word. I think I had Googled it a couple times, and I remember in a text telling my sister I thought I had that, and she laughed. We both laughed. And she was like, I think that's I've been there. Yeah, what like old people get, you know. But when he said it, when my neurologist said it, it was like whack. Like I just I was like, oh no, I'm in trouble.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

You know, you bring up an interesting point. I've I've never really I thought about it a little bit, and I'm gonna go off the cuff here and I'm gonna ask if you've ever thought about this. Only because your timeline kind of matches mine. I've worked my whole life every day since I'm 13. You have to wonder around the pandemic time when people stopped working and stopped moving as much. I wonder what the studies would show if there was an increase in people that started showing Parkinsonian type symptoms then.

unknown 10:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Because you're you're kind of out of the rat race at that point.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

You know, and I and I think that you know, people ask me all the time, or I get comments online all the time, like, do I think it was caused by COVID or do I think it was caused by the vaccine? No, I I don't. I had symptoms well before the pandemic, but I do not caused by it, but I'm just saying that the stagnant. And actually, I remember shortly after I was diagnosed, I can't remember what article I saw. It might have been one of Dr. Okins, but there was a huge incidence rate or prevalence rate of Parkinson's and neurodegenerative diseases after the 1918 flu epidemic. And they weren't necessarily correlated clinically, I don't think, or biology-wise, biologically. Um, I was a music major, by the way, so we're gonna get all these words wrong. But we'll get into that later. Um but but there have been other pandemics that have had the rate of neurodegenerative diseases rise after them. So surely, I mean, we we all know that environmental and lifestyle factors contribute to Parkinson's. It's undeniable. So for sure, the stress that I felt in the pandemic years trying to keep everything going absolutely accelerated my symptoms. I have no question about that.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Now, what would you say when you first got diagnosed? Um obviously everything is shocked. I mean, I I was in shock. I probably still am to some degree on certain days. Um what was the hardest thing mentally that you had to come to grips with or that you had the hardest time getting over after being diagnosed?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

100% my family and what it would do to them. 100%. I I've never really been the kind of person that feared disease or death or physical ailment or disability. None of that stuff really ever bothers me when it comes to me. Like I feel like no matter what it is, I will be able to overcome it. I have a uh a mom who makes me look like a complete and total wimp. She is the strongest human being I've ever met in terms of especially on all levels, but especially health levels. Um, and she'd been, she has Crohn's disease, she had been sick my whole entire life. She was super, super strong. And so I had a role model that showed me how basically you can overcome almost anything. Um, so it never really occurred to me to be worried about my own physicality or my own future. Um, but I was devastated for what I knew it could, it may, still do to Mike as my primary caregiver and to my kids. So that sucked. Luckily, I had a really great um therapist. I still have a great same great therapist, and she really helped me work through all of that stuff. Um, but yeah, I would say that was for sure the hardest part.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

And I'll tell you the truth. Uh, something that I, you know, I had we had drinks that night and I spoke with Mike um privately, and I said to him, I said, What is the hardest thing? Like how do you as a caregiver, you know, what is the hardest thing? He just said, I don't see it's not hard. And he said something that struck with me, and I'll always remember it. He said, I let her dictate the day. He said, What based off the mood she's in, how she feels, he goes, Listen, if she doesn't feel good, we we accommodate and and we we adjust. If she wants to run around and go crazy, we hop on a plane and and we go, you know, arrange our daughter's college bedroom, you know, like I mean, and that to me, like he's willing to adapt and adjust on the fly like that. And that's a good man.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

That that's a that's a I mean, listen, I I've said this before, and I'll say it till the day I die. If I I do not deserve this human in my life, I I spotted him when we were three years old. I reconnected with him when we were in eighth grade, and I was like, you're mine, we're not going away.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Um, this all started over a hubba recess.

unknown 14:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

He is uh unnaturally patient. Um, and he just knows me better than anyone on the planet, obviously. And so he he knows when there are days when I'm down or when uh you know I need picking up, he just always miraculously knows what to say. I worry that um that's also like that's a sort of underreported or under-acknowledged part of being a caregiver is the emotional support that people with diseases need. Um, in addition to supporting themselves, and he's a huge support for our kids. So it's a lot. It's definitely a lot. There's not a lot of physical care giving for me at this point. I'm pretty physically strong and my symptoms are well managed, but I think emotionally it's been a journey for him for sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Well, I think you both looked out. You both found some pretty awesome people. Um as far as you know, you just said physically, you're you're still pretty good. What do you attribute that to? I mean, what kind of media did you have a rough trial as far as finding the right meds or supplements or dieting, anything that you put in your body? What did you find worked for you?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I think partly because I was in such bad shape because it took me so long to get diagnosed that when I finally was diagnosed and got on, it did take me a little while to get the right meds. I ended up switching um movement disorder specialists uh about six months after I was diagnosed. And he changed my entire protocol. Um and once I got the right level of meds, I started feeling at least for the first year after I was diagnosed, maybe even a year and a half, I didn't have any symptoms at all. I mean, I felt like completely back to normal. I had no off time. My meds seamlessly transitioned from one to the next. Um, I felt great. I was in great shape. I lost a ton of weight. I got running again. I, I mean, I literally felt like a younger, stronger version of myself than before I was diagnosed. Um, I would say over the last year or so, we're sliding backwards down the hill, is how I like to describe it. Um, my uh we've tweaked the meds a little bit. Um, we've tried to extend the on time. So I definitely have more noticeable symptoms at times. Um, I still feel pretty good, but I do think it'll probably I'll have to shift again in the fall when I see my MDS because I have a lot of tremor time. Um, and the and you probably have this too. I know a lot of Parkinson's people do, like undiagnosable or unspecific pain. Like I have random pain in my forearm and my elbow. And I think it's partly because my tremors on that side and I'm like constantly, you know, flexing. Um, but my arm hurts all the time, my foot hurts a lot. So, like just that kind of stuff. But sometimes, sometimes I have issues walking. If if I miss a dose or if I'm like even an hour late on a dose, I am a hot, hot mess. I was on a plane coming back from a family wedding last fall, and I and I forgot to pack my pills in my take carry-on. By the time we got to baggage claim, I couldn't even walk. So it's there, as we all know. It's just lurking hidden beneath the the meds at this point.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

And then I get a lot of it with rigidity. Like you said, this the stiffness, I guess that's that's where it comes in from. Are you on Crexon? Are you trying or the extreme?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

I'm just on Carbonopa Levadopa Cinemat. Um, I take it to I it's like the I never I don't really know what the numbers are, but I think it's 25 and 100, and I take two pills four times a day. And then I do take the extended release of that, I think it might be called Crexant, um, overnight.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Um, and then my MDS also added uh antacone, which is like meant to extend your period of how long it works, because he wanted to try that before adding another dose of um Carbodopa. But yeah, I don't I think that's still got some room to go in terms of how much I take and how often. Um, but it's a pain in the ass, you know. It's like I feel like I'm popping pills every 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

So it's just like, you know, it's I I agree. It's definitely trying most of the day. Um anything about diet that you find works with you or does not work with you?

SPEAKER_01 18:36

You know what's interesting. I I would love to say that I like started eating better on my own, but I will say that I think the meds really squashed my appetite in those early years.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

I know.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

So as much as I'd like to take credit for like rehabbing my my Oreo habit, I haven't. I still love Oreos. I'm just I feel like part of part of it is that I'm just not nearly as hungry anymore because I the meds make me sort of nauseous um at times. But I did start working out a lot, lot, lot more. Um, I've sort of fallen off the wagon, but I'm getting back to it now. I ran a half marathon that first year after I was diagnosed. So I definitely um put myself back on the movement track. Um, and I and I and I feel a lot better when I work out.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

It's just you just said before that you feel yourself sliding down the hill a little bit. Don't forget a hill is meant to be climbed too. So you're gonna be just fine. You've been there.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

You know what I feel like? You remember on the price is right? Is it the price is right? Yeah, I think that little like doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. Yeah, like I literally like we all are, we're like on that little like Yodel hill.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

It's that we don't want a car, we want a cure.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yes. Hey.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

So let me ask you this. Um, and a lot of people have an issue with when I I put something out like this. Uh there has to be something in your life that uh is a blessing that you only have as a result of Parkinson's, or something that you realize, or like like for me, I just think maybe thinking about my own mortality and and how short life could be has really changed me. And not that I was a bad person, but it's opened my eyes a lot and it's made me a better person and a more caring person. Um I know it shouldn't have taken Parkinson's to do that, but it did. You know, that that's one of the things. I mean, is there something that sticks out with you that, you know, like where one day you just said, damn, this wouldn't have happened if I didn't have Parkinson's?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Honestly, my entire life changed because of Parkinson's. And I hate to say this because I know people are like, well, just wait, it's gonna get so bad, and I am not naive. But my whole life has changed for the better since I was diagnosed with Parkinson's. And it's been seven, seven years since it started showing up in my life. It's been almost three since I knew what it actually was. But I am more patient, although I was not patient this morning before I got on this podcast, so forgiveness is needed for my.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

I clearly I when I asked you to be on this podcast, I clearly caught you during an off time. Otherwise, you probably would have never done it.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

No, no, no. It was just because whatever. Teenagers are messy. That's all I'm gonna say. Um that's all I'm gonna say. Um, but I am much more patient. I am much more present. I really used to be the kind of person that was like, especially as an event planner, my whole world was geared towards what's next. Like, what's next? What's the next event? What's the next trip? What's the next whatever holiday? Um, I love just the day-to-day. Like I and I and I wish I could say that I knew how it switched. I don't know. I just love a mundane, it just happened. I have a new perspective, I have a new outlook. I even in the last year, um, just don't give a crap what anyone thinks about me.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

It changes your view. Your viewpoint.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

I just my viewpoint has changed, my outlook has changed, all of that is good. My mission has changed. I love doing this work, this advocacy work, not in Just for myself, but like knowing how many people it matters to and it impacts the more people you meet that are harmed and um you know just devastated by a disease like this one, or ALS or Alzheimer's or Huntington's or Emma's or whatever, the more it propels me forward to make change. And I love it. I could do this work for the rest of my life. I also feel like I now get to set my own life agenda and schedule, and that is a true, true privilege that I know not everybody has in this space. I am ridiculously lucky that I have a husband who still works and provides and allows me to do this advocacy work, which frankly costs me money, doesn't make me money. Um and and that he was like, go for it, just do it, you know, knowing that that meant like our finances changed when I quit my job. Um and so yeah, I everything has been in many ways better. It's not to say that life is easy, like you know damn well this disease sucks and it hurts. And it's it's awful, but I have changed myself in in every way. And I would say the cherry on top of all of that is the people I've met, you know, and I too will not cry. You will not make me cry. Um, but you know, you and so many others that I've just grown to love and I would never have known had this not happened. My relationship with the entire Fox team, like I know it sounds ridiculous, but I literally know like half of the people now that work for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and I love them all. I literally love them all.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

So we worked at that MVP gala together. You were like, you would have thought Mrs. Michael J. Fox walked in like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

And it's not even just them, like they're the Parkinson's Foundation, that their team too, like they're just there's so many good and amazing people in this space that I never would have known had I not been diagnosed. So I know I know it's not a gift. I know that's a really hard word for a lot of people who are suffering. And I like I said, I know that not everybody is in the position I'm in. People are struggling financially, physically, emotionally, they're losing jobs, they're losing family members. I I get it. When if I were on the outside looking in at me, I'd be like, oh my God, shut up. Like, give me a break. But I am committed to using all of that privilege and all of the platform that I have for everybody else. So, you know, I'm just gonna keep going.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Well, you bring me to a question that I'm not gonna be able to ask everybody, but you're the perfect person to ask because you are so good at it, the advocacy and all the all the work that you do. And and I'll be honest with you, and I've told this before, you inspire me to do that. I mean, this page of mine all started in a dark moment where I didn't know how to get out of my own grave, so to speak. And, you know, people like you, the first person were there to help me give me a hand. And it all just started with you feel alone with Parkinson's. I said, maybe I can make a page where if I can make one person laugh every day, I wish they would do that to me. And and the the it goes on and on. You know, but I see the work that you do, and and it's it's truly inspired me. And like I've said to you off the air, you know, I'm at the point now where I'm I'm doing work with the Fox Foundation, I'm I'm trying to deal with government officials and and make a change. And it is truly amazing the work that you do, and it's inspired me. Like you're kind of like my mentor in a sense. Um so my question to you would be for somebody who's looking into the work that you do, just just advocating, even if it's not at the level that you do it at, um, give them some advice. Where's the first place to start?

SPEAKER_01 25:35

So advocating is just storytelling. That's it. That's all it is. And I think it's a big fancy word that scares people. And and I think that um, you know, like I said, I did this for as a career for 10 years and I truly learned from the best. I mean, I had the kind of examples to follow that are like going to go down in the record books as um some of the most incredible neurodegenerative advocates in history. So um that that's where I that's how I said at the beginning, like I was uniquely prepared for this moment. Um, but my Instagram and my storytelling is just that. I just tell my day, I just tell my story. And if that if some people relate to that, great. If it if they don't, swipe on, scroll on.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

That's the catch. You make people feel like they're not alone. At least to me, that's that's what we all do.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

That's what I look for when I'm looking for stuff to follow on the internet, you know, and that's actually why I started that page. I had a private Instagram page. I started the public one because I couldn't find anyone else that had Parkinson's that looked like me on first glance. Now they were all there. I just could it took me a while to find them. But, you know, that's how I built that community. Um, just looking for people who were younger who were facing this or who had the same sort of intent to make change. Not everybody wants to advocate, not everybody wants to make change. People are just trying to survive, they don't have the wherewithal or the capacity or the interest in doing the work. And I don't blame them at all. Like you can just survive, like do it, you know. Do you I feel like um if you're prepared and you're uh able, able-bodied or able emotionally to do the work, then take the baton and run. You do not need permission from me, from anyone else, from anyone in this space. I always say the best way to get involved, the way I got involved with the Fox Foundation was to go to a couple of events. Um, I think that's the easiest way, or like you did, create your own event. The Fox Team Fox, which is the grassroots portion of the foundation, um, allows you to set up fundraising pages and do events and get into them in a much bigger way, probably, than you even intended.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

But um They're amazing, by the way. They're the best out there. Nobody's better.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah, and I by the way, I don't work, I mean, they I do get compensated for flying all over the country. They pay for my travel um to go to PDIQ, so I'll be totally transparent about that. But I don't work for them. Like I I just love them. I just I think that they're doing the hard work and I'm happy to be associated with them.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

So that's amazing. So I wanted to do a little couple of little unique things before we before we close this out. Um, I wanted to add a little spice to this, add a little fun and game, something that we could all kind of get involved in. So the first thing I'm gonna do is we're gonna shake things up with what's called a rapid fire round. We're just gonna ask you quick questions, give me one or two word answers. Um, probably gonna be a little less than 10 of them.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Are you ready? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

All right. Only because you're from New Jersey, you're gonna get a couple of different ones. Bon Jovi or Bruce?

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Oh that's like Sophie's choice. Um I would have said Bon Jovi when I was growing up, but now Bruce.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Turnpike or the parkway?

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Oh, it were impossible. I mean, we are turnpike people, root 10.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Pork roll or tailligham.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Exat 10, eggs of 10, exit.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

All right, cork roll or tail ham.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Can I be honest with you? I never had either of those. Those were not part of the northern New Jersey thing. We had sausage, egg, and cheese on a plain bagel.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Like all right, so I know you're you have a Canadian background. Yeah, so I'm gonna say, is it Canadian A or is it New Jersey A?

SPEAKER_00 29:22

It's definitely a Jersey A or a Moron.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Hey, well, Metal Yankees.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Oh, Yankees.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

All right. We'll get into something. I don't know what's gonna happen with our Yankees, not until the Dodgers, not until they until somebody loses money, another owner loses money in California somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Exactly. We're we're we're done. We're done.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

So I know with Parkinson's a lot of times we feel alone, um, even in a major space with a lot of people. Stranded on a desert island. What's your favorite artist? One album that you could bring with you.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Favorite artist, one album. The album that I listened to, and well, it would probably be a Broadway album. It would probably have to be Hamilton, just because I know every single word and it would keep me occupied on a stranded island because I could do literally every part by myself in I was gonna bring you singing at an ice cream shop. Yes, he was slightly. I literally think I could sing Hamilton until on the desert is deserted island by myself forever. Um, so I'll go with Hamilton.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

I know every word. Favorite movie or show?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Oh, favorite movie. Um, my favorite movie is Sense and Sensibility, which is random. I know the Hugh Grant um Emma Thompson version. I've watched that a gajillion times. Um favorite right now, Love Island. Oh, it's good.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Favorite food.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Oh, favorite food.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Probably if I could pick any food at all time, it would be chicken wings.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

What kind of sauce?

SPEAKER_01 31:00

It's my go-to.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Barbecue and muscle.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Buffalo, buffalo.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

And maybe the hardest one. You can only pick one person to be on that desert island with you. Who's it gonna be? Who's your foxhole person?

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Oh, I mean it's gotta be Mike, but then I'm gonna be in so much trouble with Ava, with Bobby, and with Bean.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Listen, I think mine is Mike.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

It's gotta be Mikey.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

All right, so now we're gonna close things out. I'm gonna call two truths and a tremor. You're you're gonna tell me three things about Allie. One of them is gonna be a lie, and you're gonna tell me off the air the answer because I want people to guess and want us to start interacting with our other partners' warriors online. So tell me three things in any order, and one of them is a lie. That's we call our tremor.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Okay. I was almost recently cast opposite of Harrison Ford on um shrinking. That's one. I was almost in Starlight Express, the very infamous roller skating Broadway rock and roll show.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

And I'm trying to think of one other thing that would be remotely interesting. I am in the process of writing a book. I'll let you guess which one, which one is alive.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Well, I don't know because you're the amazing alley. You could do anything. I I'm gonna say don't tell, don't tell us the answer, but I'll I'll guess off the air. Um, listen, it has been I'm surprised. I don't have to do a lot of editing here. I don't think I messed up that much. It's it's the lead opa pills are popping when you're not looking.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

No.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

So listen, this has been so much fun. It has been such an honor to talk to you. I cannot wait to see you in Washington um and have a couple of laughs. Um, thank you so much for joining us today. Um again, it it's been an honor. Um, and what I will say to everybody um this has been the first ever My PD Peeps podcast. Until we talk again, stay moving, stay laughing, and stay connected. Thank you so much, Allie, and thank you guys for watching.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Thank you.