New tulip designed by woman with Parkinson’s
gaining grassroots support to become national symbol

 

By Sheryl Jedlinski

Co-founder pdplan4life.com

 

A new tulip is popping up in gardens across the country, just in time for Parkinson’s awareness month. The tulip — a red flower with distinctive leaves shaped like the letters “p” and “d” — was designed by a young onset person with Parkinson’s (PWP) from Washington state — Karen Painter. Grassroots support for making her tulip the national symbol for Parkinson’s awareness is growing.

 

“After staring at a pink breast cancer ribbon in a store window, it dawned on me that people with Parkinson's also need a nationally recognized symbol for awareness,” she recalls.


True the red tulip has been associated with Parkinson’s awareness since 1980 when a Dutch horticulturalist who had PD developed a red and white tulip and named it "Dr. James Parkinson.” More than 25 years later, however, there is no single recognized red tulip design.

 

When Jean Burns, co-founder of pdplan4life.com, saw the tulip her new friend Karen had doodled on a napkin, she was “immediately struck by the unique and beautiful design. Of all the tulips I have seen used for PD awareness, this one stands apart from the rest.”

 

Jean and Karen believe that Karen’s tulip design can do for Parkinson’s awareness what the pink ribbon has done for breast cancer. They hope that the established Parkinson's organizations will recognize this potential and use Karen’s tulip emblem in their materials alongside their official logos.

“We have a dream that Karen’s stylized tulip will become the symbol not for one Parkinson’s organization or event, but for the Parkinson’s community nationwide,” Jean says. “It will serve as a reminder that we all must work together to find a cure for the millions of people living with Parkinson’s disease.”

 

Jean and Karen’s campaign is not about financial gain or fame. They simply want to do something positive for others living with Parkinson’s.

To get the ball rolling, Jean  wrote a successful grant application which funded the creation of several thousand lapel pins based on Karen’s design. Jean followed this up with a grassroots letter-writing campaign to introduce the design to people with Parkinson’s and their local PD organizations. Karen sent her own "mission" letter to her friends and family and collected enough money to buy hundreds of buttons featuring her tulip logo.

 

At the same time Jean created a new page (www.pdtulip.com) on the pdplan4life web site enabling people to easily download the tulip graphic in a variety of sizes for use on their print materials and slide shows.


“We were able to get my PD tulip in front of thousands of PWP,” Karen says. “The groundswell of support for this design has far exceeded my expectations.”

 

“ I’m hearing from people all across the nation that they love the design, and they are requesting computer graphics of it to use on printed materials,” Jean says. “The dream Karen and I share is coming true.”

 

Parkinson disease knows no social, ethnic, economic or geographic boundaries. Some 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States alone. While the condition usually develops after the age of 65, 15% of those diagnosed are under 50.

For more information, contact:
Karen@pdtulip.com
Jean@pdtulip.com
 

 

pd tulip wreath - happy holidays

OR without words:

pdtulipwreath -no text

 Tulip for Parkinson's (PD) awareness

 

order pins:

 

ila@azapda.org

800-541-4960

 

or

www.apdamidwest.org

 

or

 

from the manufacturer:

click here to learn how to order pins

 

 

 

(TULIP IN A WREATH - IMAGES ABOVE) If you would like a graphic of the pd tulip design in a wreath - suitable for printing on holiday cards, email

jean@ pdtulip.com

we ask only that you make a donation (in any amount) to the Parkinsons Action Network

 

The other graphics are free for your use in spreading PD awareness.