Angela “Angie” Parker-Brown, the Truro woman who used eye-gazing technology to write a book about her journey with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), passed away Friday night with family members by her side.
“It is with a very sad heart our family has to announce the passing of the most courageous and loving person we know. Our beloved Angie has passed through this life and journeyed onto the next,” Bev Maxwell, Parker-Brown’s sister, wrote in a Facebook group.
“She fought a hard, long battle for many years, living with ALS. This last bout of infection, which had been clearing up, was just too much for her body to handle, and she was just too tired to fight any longer. It was her time and as hard as that is right now, it was her time.”
“Ang is now at peace, watching over us all, especially her two beautiful daughters, Paris and Parker, and is still that caring, loving, kind, smart, compassionate (and so much more), woman, that she was, and will always be remembered in that way!”
‘How blessed that I get to share that bond’
In September, Parker-Brown held a book launch for her book Writing With My Eyes: Staying Alive While Dying on the front lawn of her home in the Black neighbourhood known as The Island in Truro.
Several dozen people attended, including Parker-Brown’s family, friends, and caregivers, many of whom are members of Truro’s Black community.
“These are the makings for an amazing book launch,” Parker-Brown told the Halifax Examiner back in September. “It doesn’t hurt being told how inspiring your book is, or how validated your words made someone feel, or even to be told how a person is helped through their journey with a loved one who is experiencing or experienced their own journey with ALS. How humbling. How blessed that I get to share that bond.”
Parker-Brown’s book was published by Pottersfield Press. In a statement, Lesley Choyce, Pottersfield’s publisher who taught Parker-Brown at the Transition Year Program at Dalhousie University, said Parker-Brown “was one of the most inspired and inspiring authors I ever had the pleasure of working with.”
“She will be truly missed and I feel privileged to have been her publisher,” Choyce wrote.
A lasting legacy
Several tributes to Parker-Brown were shared on social media and in her Facebook group, including a heartfelt blog by family friend and Island resident, Jude Clyke.
“Her courage, purpose, and inspiration have created a lasting legacy,” Clyke wrote. “Among other things, she was an amazing mother, friend, and role model and we each have our own special memories forever.”
“She didn’t allow her diagnosis to limit her. In fact, for Angie, it became a call to action.”
A funeral for Parker-Brown is expected to take place later this week.
What an amazing story and woman. ALS is terrible.
what an amazing woman!