"IT sounds selfish," 75-year-old David Veness said of his reasons for becoming a pioneer for the Parkinson's community.
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This self-confessed selfishness, which has, in turn, resulted in years of helping others, is exactly why he has been recognised on a national scale.
The Bathurst man has been named an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) recipient on the King's Birthday honours list.
When Mr Veness was first diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 14 years ago, he began attending support meetings across the state, and since then he has become an advocate for those living with the disease.
"I've got a funny saying, when someone said, 'Well, what are you doing here?', I would say, 'Well, I'm here to help myself'," he said.
"If I don't look after myself, and if I don't do my exercises, and if I don't take my medication when I should, I'm going to be a mess, and then what good am I to helping you? None."
Because of these "selfish" reasons, when Mr Veness received the news that he was named on the OAM list, his first reaction was to reject the accolade.
"I'm not doing it for kudos, so initially I thought, 'I'll send it back, I don't want it'," he said.
But after some convincing from his family, and even becoming emotional when telling his son that he was named as an OAM recipient, he decided to embrace it.
This might be because, since Mr Veness was born, it was believed that he was destined for greatness.
Coming into the world on February 29, a leap-year, Mr Veness has made leaps and bounds for people living with Parkinson's disease.
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Mr Veness joined the board of Parkinson's NSW as non-metropolitan representative in 2016, and was then elected as the president in 2018, before stepping into the vice president role in 2021.
He was appointed Parkinson's NSW Ambassador in November 2021 following his tireless work on the board, where he was instrumental in the deployment of Parkinson's specialist nurses across the state.
Mr Veness helped to secure these nursing positions in Northern NSW, Northern Sydney and Southern NSW Local Health Districts.
"I wasn't successful in the way that I wanted to be; we have six now, but we need more," he said.
The need for these nurses, and for greater specialist services for the Parkinson's community, is due to the fact that there is no cure for the disease.
In Australia, Parkinson's affects the motor and cognitive capacity of an estimated 80,000 people.
It's quality of life that suffers the most, according to Mr Veness.
Parkinson's is caused by a loss of nerve cells in the brain. These cells are responsible for producing dopamine, and in order to control this loss of dopamine, sufferers have to take a variety of medications.
Mr Veness takes 19 pills a day to control his symptoms, and even has to wake up at 3.30am every day to ensure the correct dosage.
Though Mr Veness has already made a lot of progress in the Parkinson's community, he is still working on new strategies to assist those living with the disease.
He also urged anyone to do their own research into the disease, as another means to raise awareness.
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