A dad of two was diagnosed with an incurable condition after feeling a "horrible aching sensation" in his left shoulder blade for three years.
Doctors initially thought John Roche's shoulder pain was due to a 'pinched' nerve, but a neurologist diagnosed it as Parkinson's when he was 50 years old. John said: "It was a shock obviously because I'd gone with a problem that I thought was a minor surgery. At that time, I didn't even know Parkinson's was an incurable neurological condition."
What he hadn't noticed was the 'Parkinson's mask' he unwittingly wore as he lost control of his facial muscles. The man, from Lydiate, said: "The natural thing is to think that I'm upset about something or I'm angry, because I'm quite a light hearted person, but when you're on my side of the face, you think you're smiling and people generally don't tell you until eventually, those close to you will say, 'Is everything okay? You haven't smiled for a week'."
