About Darby

I was always drawn to spending time and listening to the stories from the older people in my life & community. My grandmother was my hero. She was a pilot, a mother, she ran the family business, she was the most courageous woman I've ever known. When I was 8 she was diagnosed with Parkinson s disease and my grandfather decided to care for her at home. Through the years I spent every summer and winter on their farm going to relieve my grandpa of his duties and caregiver for my grandmother. I watched her muscles and her body become encapsulating and the people in her life began to treat her like an invalid. While her needs became more demanding as she could no longer do anything on her own, her and I created a space in her life with our relationship where Parkinson s had no room to live. Her story didn't stop. That experience taught me a level of empathy that's molded the way I move through the world. I've spent years volunteering at elderly homes and am looking forward.