Prolific Dumfries author, Miller Caldwell, is donating royalties from a new collection of donated poems to Parkinson’s research.
The 71-year-old says that as a sufferer himself, he wants anyone who buys a copy of Penned Poetry for Parkinson’s UK research to know that their purchase will “help bring the cure to the disease one step closer”.
He said: “It has been a pleasure for me to compile this book which is a collection penned by the world’s most prominent poets.
“They are award-winning international poets from Siberia, Romania, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Germany, all parts of the UK, Belgium, Eire and Pakistan.
“It may the first book of poetry that a member of the public buys but it is more than that. Each and every purchase could bring the cure to Parkinson’s disease one step closer.
“For that, as a sufferer myself, I am extremely grateful.”
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s last year and, after the initial shock, has been determined to raise awareness of the condition.
To mark World Parkinson’s Day in April he joined with the Stewartry’s Karen McConnel to co-ordinate two activities designed “to start conversations”.
The first was encouraging local landmarks, businesses and homes to light up blue to show their support for the 145,000 people in the UK who live with the condition.
And the second was called Poems for Parkinson’s, which invited people with the condition to share their personal stories to help more people understand the reality of living with it.
Now he has the new poetry book which can be purchased via Amazon at https://prksn.uk/3HFDGGe.
Miller said: “Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, and while it predominantly affects older people, young people can be diagnosed with it too.
“Currently there is no cure and not enough people really understand the condition which has over 40 symptoms.”
Miller, who hails from Kirriemuir, moved to Dumfries 26 years ago as a regional reporter for the children’s panel has also been local chairman of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending for twelve years.
At the age of 53, he “got mild cognitive impairment” and decided to retire and start writing.
He also took up an offer to travel to the North West Frontier Province of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to assist in the care of the children in a large camp at Mundihar, following the 2005 earthquake in South Asia which killed 75,000, injured as many again and left thousands widowed, orphaned and abandoned.
Miller found himself appointed as camp manager and is also convinced that on a 2006 trip to Pakistan he came face to face with Osama bin Laden.
He was also once a Church of Scotland missionary in Ghana and with such a colourful and adventurous life under his belt he’s not been short of storylines.
He has penned novels, biographies, self-help and children’s books for almost two decades and has previously served on the committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland.
Miller, who is president of the Dumfries Burns Club and a direct descendant of the bard, has not rested on his laurels during lockdown either.
Last year he also decided to donate royalties raised from his 25th published book, Caught In A Cold War Trap – a fast-moving thriller based on an incident in his own life during his student days – to the NHS.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic he has also written a series of four crime stories set at Blackwater on the Island of Arran.
On the inspiration for his latest book, he said that after his Parkinson’s diagnosis, he went online to read about it and was “fascinated to see there was so much help there” and he wants to inform others with the condition.
He added: “The year before I started to write about dementia in a dream net because I’m one of five per cent of the world’s population who can remember their dreams and write them down.
“So I wrote mine down and told my wife, and she thought they were great.
“I put them in a book form and then contacted my Dutch friend and wondered if she had a dream and she splattered me with international poets all over the world who shared their dreams.
“When I got Parkinson’s I contacted her again and asked if the poets could send me four poems each and that’s how Penned Poetry for Parkinson’s Research was created.
“It was about November last year I started it but the poems filtered in and it’s taken a while to get it published but it’s out now and is going really well with people who have told me they’ve got it.”
“Donating the proceeds of this book to fund research gives people with Parkinson’s and their families hope for the future.”
