Pinky's Passion to Find a Cure for Parkinson's Disease More KOMO communitiesCity of SeattleBallardCapitol HillCentral DistrictDowntown SeattleFremontGreen LakeGreenwood-PhinneyLake CitySouth Lake UnionMadison ParkMagnoliaNorth SeattleQueen AnneSouth SeattleUniversity DistrictView RidgeWallingfordWest Seattle EastBellevueIssaquahKirklandMedinaMercer IslandNewcastleRedmondSammamishWoodinvilleBothell I got the honor of speaking with Pat Erickson aka Pinky of Pinky's Passion about her quest to find a cure for Parkinson's Disease and how she's getting Edmonds involved to help. "Pinky's Passion started as Pinky's Passion for Fashion in April of 2007. I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson's disease in April of 2002. I hid my diagnosis and didn't tell anyone for several years. My husband said to me one day, "no good can come of this if you won't tell anyone." I took his words to heart and started thinking about how I would tell people. Now, no one LOVES a party more than me, so I started thinking about what kind of a party I could have (because all good parties have a theme!) I decided to do a vintage fashion show - and do it as a fundraiser. We raised over $12,000, which we gave to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. We had such a good time doing that party that we decided we wanted to do more of the same and formed Pinky's Passion for a Parkinson's Cure. Since that time, we have given fashion shows and had band performances and parties to earn money. We have given over $63,000 to local and national organizations. In fact, I will be presenting my vintage clothes at a birthday party this coming Saturday for a lovely lady just diagnosed with PD. We are members of Team Fox, the grassroots fundraising arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Last year, I "met" online a lady named Terry Holler from Myrtle Beach, SC. She and her husband are traveling around in a DeLorean made to look like the time machine from "Back to the Future". Terry is also a Team Fox member. Since this year is the 25th anniversary of "Back to the Future", I thought we could incorporate that into our walk and "Walk to the Future". Terry I met face to face in New York this last April at a Team Fox MVP dinner. It was our plan that they would bring their car to Seattle for our walk - - but they decided it was just too far and would take too long to drive. We looked into having it shipped but it was just too costly. So, I have made my own version of the DeLorean out of foamboard - which we will make available for photos at our Walk to the Future. We live in Shoreline. So, when the Shoreline Stadium was booked for the summer, we decided to try Edmonds. The Stadium there is beautiful! Our "Walk to the Future" will be held from 8am - 8pm on July 24th at the Edmonds-Woodway High School Stadium. During that time, at least one member from each team should be on the track at any given time. The bands "Third Train Running", "Shearwater" and the "Phantoms Blues Band" will be performing. Mrs. Wigglesworth - my storytelling alter ego - will perform as well. There will be prizes for both the team and individual who bring in the most money in donations. Additionally, there will be random prize drawings all day long. A $25 registration fee gets participants a box lunch from Quizno's and an event t-shirt.