Parkie in the Wild began with two love stories - one between Ellen and John, and another between Ellen and puppets. Ellen was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s disease at just 46 years old in 2017. Life changed in ways she never expected, but Parkinson’s was only one chapter of a much bigger story. Ellen and John had known each other since they were 12 years old, then life took them in different directions for decades. Eventually, their paths crossed again, they fell in love, and in June 2024, they got married - more than 40 years after they first met.
Then, on a car ride in February 2026, another unexpected chapter began. Ellen, who had loved doing puppets years earlier, told John how much she missed it. She joked that she probably couldn’t do puppets anymore because of Parkinson’s - her hand might shake, which would mean she’d have a puppet with Parkinson’s. They looked at each other, and the lightbulb went on: “Oh yeah… a PUPPET WITH PARKINSON’S could totally be a thing!” And just like that, Ellie was born. Parkie in the Wild became a way for Ellen and John to turn the unpredictable, frustrating, funny, heartbreaking, and sometimes downright absurd realities of Parkinson’s into stories people could understand - and laugh along with. Because sometimes the best way to live with the wild is to find the humor in it.
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