There is a certain breed of folk who need a swift kick in the tuchus to do what they already know is in their best interest.
Jerry Boster is a rarer breed. He needed two.
In 2013, right around the time of his retirement as a maritime homeland defense planner and international affairs officer, Boster, and soon enough the people closest to him, began noticing some subtle changes in his movements and bearing.
The slight tremor in his left hand was easy enough to dismiss. Strange, yes, but perhaps not worth worrying about just yet.
But then Boster’s wife Janice noticed that his famously upright posture — set flagpole straight by nearly 30 years of military service — had started to curve ever so slightly.
Jerry Boster hunching? The heck you say.
Around the same time, Janice also noticed that when she and Jerry were out walking together the most unusual thing would happen. She’d outpace him. That was enough to prompt Swift Kick No. 1.
Diana Furtado, part of the couple’s close clutch of University of Hawaii football pals, had also noticed what she took to be signs of a potential neurological problem. And so, Swift Kick No. 2.
“She gave me more than a little push,” Boster said, chuckling. “Diana can be pretty direct.”
A visit to a neurologist soon confirmed that he had Parkinson’s, a progressive neurological disorder that affects an estimated 1 million Americans.
The condition affects 50 percent more men than women. The average age of onset is 60; Boster is still just 52.
“I’m still in my prime earning years,” Boster said. “If I were 62, I’d be winding down. But at my age, my trajectory is different. With Parkinson’s, the more active you are the better, and I’m still very active.”
Boster was born in the Fallbrook area of San Diego and raised primarily in Riverside, Calif. He enlisted in the Navy at 17 and graduated with a degree in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy.
Over a 29-year career, Boster accumulated some 10 years of ship experience, 24 years of leadership and managerial experience and another seven years of experience as a senior staff member. Over that time, he served in such far-flung posts as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Japan and Jamaica and spent time in some 40 different countries.
He came to Hawaii in 2008 to work with the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Once here, he found a ready-made ohana with Diana and Kekoa Furtado and a community of UH football fanatics.
Following his diagnosis, Boster also become heavily involved in the local Parkinson’s community.
“I decided not to take it lying down,” he said.
Boster started by joining the board of the Hawaii Parkinson Association, for which he now serves as president. After representing Hawaii at a National Parkinson’s Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., where he met with representatives from Hawaii’s Congressional delegation to apprise them of issues that affect Parkinson’s patients, Boster was invited to join the Unified Parkinson’s Advocacy Council, an arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Through this national alliance, Boster is able to take up key Parksinson’s-related initiatives, such as the ongoing effort to get the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of pesticides containing paraquat, which has been clinically linked to the development of Parkinson’s. Among the council’s recent victories was the removal of the so-called Medicare therapy cap, which limited the amount of physical, occupational, and speech therapy Medicare beneficiaries could receive. The cap was particularly harmful to people with Parkinson’s who require ongoing physical therapy to manage their condition.
Locally, Boster has been working with Hawaii Pacific Neuroscience to provide training to health care professionals that would improve service to Parkinson’s patients on the neighbor islands.
For his efforts, Boster, who holds a post-retirement post as an action officer with U.S. Pacific Command, was recognized with the 2018 U.S. Department of Defense Disability Award.
Day to day, Boster does what he can to mitigate the inevitable progress of his condition. Medication has been effective in managing some of his initial symptoms, including his shuffling gait. Actions that involve fine motor skills, like sealing a zip-close bag, continue to be challenging. The tremors remain, so when his hands start shaking when he’s giving a presentation for work, he’ll simply sit on them.
None of this has affected his enjoyment of the two passions he and Janice share: UH athletics (they love football but also have a soft spot for non-revenue-generating sports) and Hawaiian music.
There is, after all, a rich life yet to be lived with Parkinson’s.
Boster encourages those newly diagnosed with Parkingson’s to contact the Hawaii Parkinson Association via Parkinsonshawaii.org or 219-8874 for a free new-diagnosis care kit.
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
