Rockhampton with Nyree Johnson | Ep. 57: Kristine Cook – Living and Giving

I sit down with Kristine Cook, Support and Community Navigator with Parkinson’s Queensland, who also brings something incredibly important to the role: lived experience. Kristine was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s just over three years ago at 53. She remembers walking out after receiving her diagnosis with a prescription in her hand, sitting alone in a Brisbane park and wondering what came next. It took her several weeks to make her first call to Parkinson’s Queensland, but when she did, she discovered something she desperately needed to know. She wasn’t alone. What began as volunteering with the organisation has since become paid work, giving Kristine the opportunity to support others navigating the same uncertainty she once faced. But Parkinson’s is only one part of Kristine’s story. We talk about her childhood around the beaches of Central Queensland, travelling and working overseas, raising her son, returning home to the Capricorn Coast, the strength she draws from her parents and why being close to the ocean and her family has become so important. Kristine also shares the work Parkinson’s Queensland is doing with support groups, universities, healthcare students and researchers, helping bring the human experience of Parkinson’s into places where it can make a real difference. Her approach to life today is beautifully simple: One foot in front of the other. Day by day. Or, as Kristine calls it, living and giving.