‘TOO YOUNG FOR THIS’

Congresswoman Opens Up About Life With ‘Parkinson’s On Steroids’

“I like to think I can be vivacious and fun as a mom, but now it’s hard to communicate and have [my kids] fully understand what I’m saying,” said Rep. Jennifer Wexton.

After only six years on Capitol Hill, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) is readying a retirement after she was diagnosed with an incurable brain disorder she calls “Parkinson’s on steroids.” 55 year-old Wexton first shared that she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in April 2023, five years after she was elected into office, but she soon suspected the diagnosis wasn’t quite right. “My symptoms were progressing much faster than everybody else's,” Wexton told People, in an exclusive interview published Thursday. Wexton was soon re-diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, which carries a prognosis of six to nine years. “It was very upsetting,” Wexton said. “I’m too young for this.” While Wexton is not cognitively impaired, the disorder has taken a toll on her speech and movement, causing some people to speak to her like a child, which is “frustrating,” she said. She added that the hardest part is watching her two college-age sons cope with her diagnosis. “I like to think I can be vivacious and fun as a mom, but now it’s hard to communicate and have them fully understand what I’m saying,” she said. “It’s really frustrating for them, I’m sure... but they’re both good kids, they’re both working through it.”