Lori's Stories: Team Fox Julie Djurich

Happy Saturday to you. Welcome to Lori's Stories, my corner of the stream. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. I know that many of you are online and are very excited for the two guests that we have that are a major part of Team Fox. First off, I am going to welcome in as my guest. This is Julie Jernig. Welcome. Thank you so much for being here with me this morning. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Now you are a part of Team Fox and tell me what is Team Fox. Tell what our viewers are and why you are associated with it. So Team Fox Detroit is a team outside of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. We raise money for Parkinson's research. 100% of the proceeds that we raise here in Detroit go directly to research. We're trying to find a cure for Parkinson's and we have a great team. We have a great board. We have a great leader and she is our champion and so we are all behind her trying to raise money for a cure for Parkinson's. So what is it that made you decide that you wanted to be a part of Team Fox? Because I'm thinking this wasn't something that you always did but you were telling me a little story as to what actually brought you into this. Yes. So my friend Donna is the head of Team Fox Detroit and again a dear friend of mine. She's been a friend for over 20 years and when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's we were just busy moms volunteering for church and for school and for our kids and when she was diagnosed I decided she needed support and love and so myself and several others jumped on board and we have been doing nothing but trying to help her raise funds to find a cure. Now we're going to be meeting Donna in a few minutes and you said you guys have been friends for many years. What was it like when you heard that she had the diagnosis of Parkinson's? Did you see the little signs along the way when you finally got the diagnosis? Were you like oh okay tell me about what that moment was like for the two of you. Yes so again we were very involved in volunteering for our church and for our community and we she was you know I remember her having like shoulder pains some aches and pains and she's like oh maybe it's just old age maybe it's you know who knows what's going on and so she was going to several doctors visits and I always call her to say what's going on how was it did you find out anything and you know several different doctors gave her several different answers but nothing was adding up and then finally when she was diagnosed with actual Parkinson's and it was a it was a shock I will say because we you know she was very young and you know it was just it was a shock to all of us so yeah it was it was it was sad we were sad for her and we you know we didn't know where she was going to you know take that and instead she turned you know her diagnosis into triumph she's fighting every day and fighting for others and and here we are. I think that people have an image of what they think Parkinson's is and you said maybe it was little things along the way and you were surprised when she got the diagnosis. In your mind perhaps you had an idea of what Parkinson's was like to everyone knows who Michael J Fox is part you know the teen fox creation so did you think my friend is going to be like that what what did you think did you think her mobility would be limited and how did you adjust your thinking because I've met her and she seems it looks great. Yeah yeah you there are days you'd never even know she has Parkinson's so when yeah when she was diagnosed of course you think oh my gosh you know what is this going to look like where is this going to go and we were all very scared for her and nervous and and yeah I mean you see Michael J Fox on TV and you think gosh you know what a fighter he's amazing and you know he's but he was diagnosed a long time long before her but yeah she she decided to do you know just again turn tragedy into triumph and do the clinical trials and try all kinds of things that were state-of-the-art and you know she's she's just a fighter and so yeah it's definitely a shock how how strong and resilient and how long she's as far as how long she's been living with Parkinson's she's doing great. So Michael J Fox has really brought attention and awareness to Parkinson's since you've been working with teen fox are you surprised by some of the stories or the resilience of the people that are a part of teen fox? It is amazing yeah we have several members of our team and on the board that have Parkinson's and boy are they amazing champions for the disease for the community helping find a cure raising awareness that's the most important is to you know get the word out there let people know like hey this disease is here it's real it's growing there's so much research out there now that we just you know still don't know about but think they're starting to find out more and more every day and the people on our team are just remarkable some members of our team have had family members that have passed away or that have Parkinson's passed away from Parkinson's so they've also joined the team and just worked so hard to you know get out into the community talk to people about the disease have you know different types of events like fundraising events you know research roundtables you know things that people think can come to and talk about their disease too and it opens up a huge wide range of a huge door for people to feel comfortable talking about their diagnosis and and how they feel about being diagnosed with Parkinson's. As a member or a sponsor or contributor of Team Fox Detroit what is it that you want people within the city to know is it different that from chapter to chapter or I'm guessing from city to city with this what is it that you try to specifically put out to Detroiters? Yes so Team Fox there are different teams throughout the country you know the main Michael J Fox Foundation Team Fox is in is based out of New York but we we are there are different different states have different teams our team here in Detroit has been solely we are having our gala coming up so we've got bowling fundraisers we have a golf outing every year we try to get out there and try to get out into community and get people to come and join us so that they can be more educated as far as the disease and and again raise awareness and and we have some fun while doing it too we we create amazing relationships and bonds and it's you know the volunteers we get you know people that you never thought you'd meet on the street you're meeting just an amazing variety of people. Would you say that this is a resource for people that maybe are newly diagnosed with Parkinson's do they seem to seek you out just so that they have you know a tribe somebody that can empathize with them as well? They do the foundation has been so generous in giving people you know resources information places to go for support places to go for for even health care and and you know things like that maybe they don't know you know where they be where they're going to begin when they're once they're diagnosed and Team Fox has been you know a great a great avenue for people to learn about the disease. So you kind of teased it so tell me a little bit about this this fundraiser that's coming up what can you it's your 10th one it is so you must be doing something great if every year people keep coming back and supporting you what can people see that might be different this year or what can they anticipate? Yes so we've had our our our Team Fox gala is coming up on September 19th at the Book Cadillac and we are so excited to bring it back to the Book Cadillac we started there 10 years ago and we're coming full circle coming back to the Book Cadillac and hopefully going to have a great turnout this year we're doing something a little different we have a very Hollywood glam kind of Fox award slash you know Oscar type award type theme so we we are so excited to present that we're going to have some great entertainment we're going to have Detroit Circus is coming out we've got a great we've got Blue Water Kings band it's going to be so fantastic the decor is going to be gorgeous we're going to have a 360 photo booth you know lots of fun little signature drinks and cocktails and some great food so it's exciting. Is it a black tie event it just folks can just get all gussied up? You can it's black tie optional but of course I like to put on a long gown at any chance I can get so we're so excited. Are tickets still available for this how can people find you online to make sure that they're at this event? Yes they are definitely still available they are on Team Fox Detroit websites you can just go to Team Fox Detroit and and they are on there they're also on Facebook and Instagram we have accounts there that have links to our tickets so yeah we would love to to you know open it up to the community and and have everybody come out and join us it's a great party. Remind people that this is a fundraiser so if they can't come out on the 19th how can people still volunteer or donate to you as well? Yes if you go to Team Fox Detroit there is a opportunity for you to donate and again 100% of the funds do go to research we are a volunteer based organization nobody nobody gets paid to do what we do we we all volunteer because we we are supportive of the cause and we love what we do as far as getting raising awareness and getting out to the community so yes definitely get online donate buy tickets we'd love to see you. Is there anything else you want to say that I didn't ask you before I bring your friend Donna in? No we're just very excited about the gala coming up we are almost at our two million dollar mark for research so just here in Detroit so we're very excited there's more events coming up so if there's anything you anything in the community would like to know about us just get on again Team Fox Detroit we would love to see you at our golf outings our bowling events or any other fundraisers or events that we have we also have the research roundtables which are important to people. Thank you so much Julie thank you we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to bring Donna in and she's going to give us some whole other perspective on Team Fox so stay tuned.