“You don’t have to stay.” My husband’s words, spoken so softly, cracked like thunder in my ears. The evening news was blaring in our living room as we sat, my nose buried in my phone — typical post-dinner habits of a couple married for 35 years. But his jarring announcement dispelled our conventional routine, and I couldn’t comprehend how or why he’d suggest I leave. And then it sank in.
As the oldest daughter of Korean and Chinese parents, born in Taiwan and raised in Japan, I had hustle, hard work, and grit buried deep in my bones. In the fall of 1983, seven years after I immigrated to the U.S., I enrolled at Wharton, where a foundation in accounting and finance, along with a cohort of lifelong friends, gave me the knowledge and confidence to fly. On the first day of my training program at Morgan Stanley — my first full-time job after graduation — I met Derek, my future husband. We built our careers side by side, he in equity derivatives and I in Asian equity. As the only female equity trader, I found camaraderie with men who were like brothers and mentors while also navigating many difficult moments in a fast-paced, male-dominated environment. I rode the growth wave in the emerging markets of Asian and Latin American equities, learning resilience in real time while helping the firm build its global presence.
Seven and a half years later, Morgan Stanley offered Derek and me the opportunity to relocate to London. With two kids in tow, we transferred our careers to the U.K. — our home for the next 30 years. Two more children followed, alongside our managing-director roles and seats on the management committee for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Our life was wonderfully full.
In 2018, two years into retirement, we enrolled as fellows in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard. Empty nesters living in a modest student apartment in Cambridge, backpacks on our shoulders, we felt young, excited, and slightly bewildered by the digital tools that had replaced the textbooks of our MBA days. Everything felt new, including the worsening tremor in Derek’s left hand. He had first noticed it the previous summer in London and had undergone a few inconclusive tests. But Derek’s hand was shaking with more frequency, and I insisted he get it checked out again. A neurologist at Mass General delivered the diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease.
This news, for both of us, was shocking. Parkinson’s is the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disease in the world, and one for which there is no known cure. Instinctively, I shifted into planning mode: sourcing a neurologist, implementing a regular exercise regimen, creating a support system. I joined the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and set up aspects of Derek’s care. Determined to preserve normalcy, we continued our dual life in England and the U.S., and friends showered us with encouragement. “Derek looks great!” they reassured me. And he did. At dinners and weddings, they saw our best selves — perhaps even our former selves. But they didn’t see the private struggles: the sleepless nights, the chronic discomfort, the emotional weight of a progressive diagnosis.
Truthfully, I didn’t see all of it, either — not until that day when Derek’s words arrived as unexpectedly as his diagnosis. After 35 years of marriage and three years with this disease, Derek was trying to spare me the burden of the road ahead. Of course, I was staying. We had too much to do.
Derek’s journey has taught us that people living with Parkinson’s need more than excellent doctors and medication. They need community, access to mental-health support, and a place that adapts with them as the disease progresses. We searched for such a place in New York City — where individuals with Parkinson’s could find exercise, care, education, and connection under one roof. While excellent and varied programs existed across the city, there was no single, centralized facility. This, we decided, would be our next chapter.
In 2024, Derek and I launched the Parkinson’s Wellness Foundation nonprofit. With a small but determined team of volunteers, we raised funds to build New York City’s first dedicated fitness and holistic wellness space for the Parkinson’s community. This past February, the Bandeen Center opened its doors. Offering science-backed exercise classes designed to slow Parkinson’s progression, our beautiful facility is expanding to 9,000 square feet this fall and includes state-of-the-art fitness studios, an on-site cafe for Parkinson’s warriors and care partners alike, and flexible space for support groups and events, along with a growing wellness program that focuses on mental health, voice therapy, creative expression, and community-building. Our hope is that our resources develop alongside the evolving needs of our clients, so they are empowered to live their fullest lives. Less than three months in, the Bandeen Center has already become so much more than what we imagined — but then, so has our retirement.
Could we ever have scripted this full-circle turn of events — resuming our co-working relationship while welcoming our first grandchild? It’s both beautiful symmetry and confounding paradox. Parkinson’s has challenged and daunted us more than anything else we have faced, but the outpouring of love from our family and friends has filled our cups beyond measure. They have brought the Bandeen Center to life.
It takes courage to confront Parkinson’s. It takes determination to build a sustainable, scalable community center that people with Parkinson’s so urgently need and deserve. Most of all, it takes staying power. Derek and I signed a 10-year lease for the Bandeen Center’s flagship New York location, and next year is our 40th anniversary. We’re staying — in every sense of the word.
Bonnie Bandeen C80 WG85 is a co-founder of the Parkinson’s Wellness Foundation, an executive board member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and a former board member of Penn and Wharton.
Published as “A New Mission” in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of Wharton Magazine.
