My dad and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)

My dad and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)Heather Angus-Leppan 1,2 Dad aged 60 years was a powerhouseenergetic, handsome, tall and powerful.I thought he would live forever.He and mum were mountaineers, opening a treacherous climb in the Drakensberg, South Africa, which bears their name (figure 1), fleeing apartheid and starting a new life in Australia.He was a pioneering academic in his field after a terrible childhood.An exceptional marriage, three children, lots of adventures.Then at 64 a colleague noticed that he looked a little stiff, and he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.He kept falling-a dramatic plunge head first into a swimming pool at a posh party in his finest clothes, stumbles and trips on a bushwalk, multiple falls backwards from ladders.This was made all the more worrying as he was on warfarin for pulmonary emboli.His neck was really rigid and he didn't move his eyes.