In 2013 Emma Lawton was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

It was the last thing she expected it to be when her hand started feeling weak. She was just 29 and Parkinson's was something people's grandmas got, right? Wrong. A brain scan showed she had the early stages of the uncurable, degenerative condition and she panicked. She had so many plans for the future …. didn't she? She thought she remembered planning at least something beyond next week but in that moment it felt like a void in front of her. She realised she had a chance to tip life on it's head and almost start afresh. So she did everything that previously scared her and swapping 'no' for 'yes' expanded her world. She became a spokeswoman raising the voice of her newfound 'PD family' and spreading awareness.

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In 2017 her neck muscles began to weaken and her head dropped.

After a long-haul flight from America her neck inexplicably started bothering her. It suddenly felt painful and weak and lying on the floor was the only thing that eased it. Over the next year the discomfort got worse and she was left looking at the ground. Getting around became difficult and her world that once expanded now shrunk to smaller than it had ever felt before. She even stopped seeing friends.

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Now Emma wants to open her world back up.

She realised that if her world had expanded once before it could do the same again. She just needed to invest some time in herself and her happiness, something we really don't do enough of. Why reserve bucketlists for when you know you're dying. LIVE NOW, to the full, try everything. You don't have to give up your job to be an adventurer. You can stretch your horizons in your lunch hour.

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THE RULES:

• Do 500 new things between 2019 and 2024

• Do them with someone else

• Document each activity