What you need to know about Parkinson's - Disease the late Joseph Kamaru had

The late Kikuyu benga maestro Joseph Kamaru was suffering from Parkinson's disease which is mostly characterized by the trembling of hands, imbalance while walking and constant involuntary fidgeting of the body. 

Back when we were young in the village, there was this old man who had the same kind of sickness and we thought him to be cursed or something. And then someone came up with a myth that when someone touches or kills a lizard, they are going to have the 'trembling' disease.

And so we believed that the man had either killed or touched a lizard. We avoided him like a plague. So we would never kill a lizard or touch a lizard. Even if it touched your food, you would scare it away while you were miles away.

Working at a care giving home in my adulthood, I have come to learn about Parkinson's and its symptoms. It is a brain disorder where your brain cells stop producing dopamine, a chemical important for regulating your motor movements.

It mostly affects people from the age of 60s. Parkinson's disease has no known cure and all that medics can give you are drugs to alleviate the symptoms such as levodopa and sinemet.

Statistics show that more than 10 million people in the world have the disease. According to Hosiped, a care giving site, other popular people who have had Parkinson's include Muhammad Ali, the famous boxer and Janet Reno who was at one time the Attorney General of USA.