The Ribbon of Road Ahead

About Carol Clupny   updated JULY 2023

Carol Clupny was living an active lifestyle riding horses, hiking, climbing, and snow skiing when at age fifty she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.  Retiring from her career as a speech-language pathologist she decided to “take to the road” to battle the disease. Her first steps, walking out her door to the mailbox, lead to trekking over 1000 miles of pilgrimage trails on the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain.  A dusty bike discovered in the garage resulted in four rides on the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa with the Pedaling for Parkinson’s Team. These adventures inspired her to write a memoir The Ribbon of Road Ahead: One Woman’s Remarkable Journey with Parkinson’s Disease.

Carol blogs about her everyday life as a middle-aged woman in the mid-stages of Parkinson’s disease.  Her honest, humorous and casual narrative style brings the reader to an intimate understanding of Carol’s resilience and acceptance.  Her blog, sharing the name of her book ”The Ribbon of Road Ahead” can be found at  www.ultreiablog.org.

After completing a Masters of Science in Speech Pathology from Eastern Washington University Carol received certification  in School Leadership and  Administration from Lewis and Clark College. She provided speech pathology services and was a program director for 32 years in the wide geographic  expanse of eastern Oregon. Active in the Oregon Speech-Language and Hearing Association she received honors of the association and the presidential award for her work on recruitment and retention of speech and hearing professionals. Carol presented numerous papers and projects at local,  state and regional professional conferences.  She was appointed by Governor Ted Kulongoski to two terms of the Oregon Board of Examiners of Speech Pathology and Audiology, the state’s licensing and consumer protection agency.

In the 16 years since her diagnosis, Carol  has become active in the Parkinson’s Community as an advocate, an Ambassador for the Davis Phinney Foundation and support group facilitator for Parkinsons Resources of Oregon.  She was appointed the regional patient representative for the Parkinsons Foundation’s Women with PD TALK study.  In September of 2019 the Michael J Fox Foundation selected Carol to participate in the Parkinson’s Policy Forum in Washington DC. As an attendee at the World Parkinson Congress in 2016 in Portland, Oregon, Carol presented a poster session examining the decision-making process for patients considering deep brain stimulation. At the 2019 WPC in Kyoto, Japan she presented a poster on vision concerns of women with PD and lead small group discussions.

Her book The Ribbon of Road Ahead has provided many speaking opportunities for Carol.  In 2019 and early 2020 she visited 24 support groups in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California to share her thoughts on living well with the disease.  In addition, she has presented talks for The Center on Aging in San Franscico, Parkinsons Place in Las Vegas, Northwest Parkinsons Foundation in Richland WA and virtually through their HOPE online program.  In late 2020 she rejuvenated her voice and recorded the narration of her book which is now available commercially. As part of this project, she read stories over the airwaves on RadioParkies Australia with DJ Madonna and in Great Britian with DJ Johnny Parky. More recently she has appeared on Twitchy Women, The Davis Phinney You Tube page, and SMART PD,

She and her husband Charlie have two adult sons.  They live on a small hobby farm in eastern Oregon.

Contact Information:  Carol Clupny PO BOX 128, Hermiston, OR  97838 caclupny@gmail.com

(541) 720-4256