Twenty-eight-year-old
Dr. Duncan McKinlay is on a streak. With a PhD under his belt, "Dr.
Dunc" on his license plate, an internship well underway, and presentations
that take him all over North America, one cannot deny that the future
looks bright for the Bayview and Eglinton area resident.
But
it was not always so.
When
he looks back on his turbulent childhood and adolescence, McKinlay remembers
the demon living inside his head. The uncontrollable ticks and scattered
emotions he felt overloaded with chaos. At that time, it wasn't a question
of if he was going to kill himself, but when. He even attempted to end
his life with pills. No one, not even his parents, knew what was happening.
Then,
at 19 years old, he discovered that he had Tourette's syndrome, and
his world was changed forever. McKinlay viewed his diagnosis as a golden
opportunity to learn more about himself and how to deal with his own
symptoms. An undergraduate student a McMaster University, he had already
been taking psychology courses, but he ultimately decided to pursue
his PhD at the University of Waterloo, drawn to the idea of learning
more about Tourette's. During his studies, he learned that he wasn't
battling a demon after all. Now, he feels that he would be more disordered
without it.
One
of the tricks he learned was not to make it go away, but to put his
energy that used to go into ticks to good use.
"I
often describe the disorder as a little kid inside me looking for something
to do," he says. "Now, my worst enemy became my best ally."
Once
he learned about the positive aspects of Tourette's, McKinlay zoomed
in on helping improve people's lives. After spending time with a child
who also had Tourette's and watching the impact he had on him, McKinlay
realized how much he could contribute to helping others. He began making
presentations to schools, a few at first, and then it snowballed. Now
he travels all over the continent to help those with Tourette's or other
associated disorders such as hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder
and obsessive compulsive disorder, or help others to understand them.
"The
worst damage Tourette's can do has nothing to do with its symptoms,"
McKinlay says. "It's in a person's perceptions of and other people's
reactions to their symptoms."
His
presentations seemed to fill such an information vacuum that he also
began a Web site: www.lifesatwitch.com. The
Web site, which provides information, links, and an opportunity to ask
questions, receives an average of 5,000 hits per week.
McKinlay
has also recently appeared on several radio and television programs,
including The Montel
Williams Show, CBC Radio's Metro Morning, Roger's Cable Toronto
Living, Breakfast Television and The Life Network "Health
on the Line."
Next
month, he will be the subject of a documentary called "Life's a
Twitch" directed by Cindy Bisaillion and produced by Yonge and
Lawrence area resident Tina Hahn. Besides being nominated for Best Education/Instructional
Film at the Yorkton Golden Sheaf Awards, the Tourette's Syndrome Foundation
of Canada has asked the filmmakers to produce a series of PSAs for an
awareness campaign. The documentary will be one of three aired on June
26, starting at 10 p.m.
All
of these activities, coupled with his internship at the Bloorview MacMillan
Centre to be completed in September, doesn't leave McKinlay with any
spare time. But helping others circumvent the same circumstances he
faced, he says, is worth the effort.
One
of the biggest rewards to doing all his work, he says, is encountering
people who don't have a vested interest in Tourette's wanting to know
more about it.
"It
spells the end of an era," he says. "I'm excited thinking
about the lives generations after me are going to have."
The
North Toronto Post salutes Dr. Duncan McKinlay for his commitment
to improving the lives of those with Tourette's syndrome.
