Fighting spirit engaged after diagnosis

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) - Sweat, determination and focus. Those were the words that inspire one woman to use her diagnosis to inspire and lift others.

Christine Brandi is a professional bodybuilder with several titles under her belt. She is also an OB/GYN, delivering babies to happy mothers across the borderland, and last year she received the news she had Parkinson's Disease.

It is a brain disorder causing uncontrollable movements, like shaking, stiffness, and makes balancing and limb coordination difficult.

Actor Michael J. Fox is known as much for his movies and television series as for his decades long fight against the disease that only progresses.

While most of the symptoms are physical and interfere with mobility, depression and other emotional changes are known to show up in patients with the disease.

When Brandi was first diagnosed, she noticed symptoms after the birth of her daughter -- she lost her sense of smell, then lost her ability to taste.

"When I first got the diagnosis everyone said you have to quit and they said no she's doing everything right!  It saved my life so we're gonna continue working out," she said of her trainers and people at the gym.

Her fighting spirit keeps her going, she keeps fighting and winning. Two big titles after diagnosis.

Now she is taking those fights and victories to the community to inspire other to fight and keep on fighting.