Kitty Doyle & Emma Kyriacou
75 episodes listed below
Parkinson’s, plainly lived and dryly told.
Ordinary Life follows Kitty and Emma through the practical and emotional mess of living with Parkinson’s. The tone is warm, blunt, and unpolished, moving from walkers, medication, DBS testing, and bad advice into the bigger awkwardness of being seen as ill.
PRESS PLAY
Ordinary Life is a conversational health show about Parkinson’s as it is actually lived. Kitty and Emma do not present themselves as medical authorities. They return instead to the stranger, smaller expertise of daily experience: what a medication delay feels like, what it means to need a mobility device, and how quickly other people can make an illness about their own curiosity. The show has a leisurely rhythm. It often starts with banter, sponsor business, or a self-deprecating disclaimer, then circles into something sharper. A discussion about a walker becomes a conversation about public staring, privacy, and the awkward bargain of wanting help without wanting to provide a medical history. A trip for a dopamine test becomes a way to talk about deep brain stimulation, public funding, memory tests, and the weirdness of trusting strangers to judge whether a brain procedure is a good fit. The show is funny, but not in a glossy way. Its humour is dry, protective, and sometimes born from exasperation. Kitty and Emma are especially good at naming the irritation of being treated as a project, a lesson, or a business opportunity. Episodes push back against miracle cures, 5G gadgets, vague energy claims, and the kind of advice that arrives wrapped as concern. The conversations also go where many illness shows become coy. Sex, embarrassment, research anxiety, awareness days, and the feeling of futility all come into view. None of it is packaged as triumph. Guest conversations, such as Johnny Boyle’s updates on deep brain stimulation, bring more procedural detail while staying grounded in recovery, symptoms, and what the body feels like after surgery. The result is warm without being sentimental. It suits listeners who want companionship more than instruction, and honesty that can laugh without pretending everything is fine.
Made for: For people living with Parkinson’s, disabled listeners, caregivers, family members, and anyone who wants illness talk that sounds human rather than polished. It especially suits listeners who value lived experience over expert performance.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its refusal to turn Parkinson’s into neat inspiration or clinical instruction. It stays close to ordinary scenes: walkers, medication, bad questions, scams, sex, and the strange humour of having to explain oneself.
Kitty Doyle and Emma Kyriacou get real about living with Parkinson’s—while finding plenty to laugh about along the way. It’s honest, heartfelt, and sometimes a little cheeky. From the challenges of daily life to the ridiculous advice people love to give, Kitty and Emma prove that even with a chronic illness, there’s always room for humour, hope, and good conversation.#parkinsons #yopd #parkinsonsdisease #invisibledisability #youngonsetparkinsonsordinarylife.co.nz
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Kitty Fitton makes chronic illness legible through generous interviews about altered routines, practical adaptation and the relationships that help people continue living.
Ordinary Life, A Podcast About Parkinson's. turns health conversations into frank, curious interviews led by Kitty Fitton, who brings her own experience of Parkinson's to each exchange.
Kitty jokes she's turning 30 after eight years with Parkinson's; you prefer honesty with a raised eyebrow.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A plainspoken, supportive take on diagnosis, scary searches, and the value of facts.
Kitty and Emma keep the focus on the rough first stretch after a Parkinson's diagnosis, including the fear that can follow a bad search and the thin comfort of generic advice. The piece works best when it stays plain.
A warm, unvarnished Parkinson's conversation about care, community, and the small details that shape a day.
Kitty Fitton hosts a warm, grounded conversation about Parkinson's, care, and the way a diagnosis can reach into friendship, community, and family life.
A practical listen about ageing, Parkinson's, and making movement fit real days.
Kitty Fitton opens with her own Parkinson's anniversary and a milestone birthday coming up, which gives the conversation its shape straight away.
A Parkinson's conversation that finds its weight in ordinary, unshowy moments.
Kitty Fitton opens a warm conversation about living with Parkinson's disease and the way care grows around it. She says she has lived with Parkinson's for eight years, and Kevin Ramshaw traces how his role began when his wife was diagnosed before widening into a more communal…
A plainspoken Parkinson's conversation that stays close to ordinary life.
Ordinary Life follows Kitty Fitton as she talks through Parkinson's, work, family, and the stubborn habit of carrying on with daily life. She is careful to say she is not a doctor or health professional, which keeps the episode personal instead of instructive.
A calm, practical conversation that treats dementia as something to face early, not hide from.
This discussion treats dementia as something worth saying out loud, and Sheena from Dementia Wellington keeps the focus on why that matters. Fear and confusion still keep people quiet, so her role as an advisor lands in a very practical place: helping people who are worried…
A candid, unvarnished account of a type 1 diagnosis and the life it reshapes.
Ordinary Life treats a diabetes diagnosis as something that can redraw a day without warning. Kitty Fitton's conversation with Erin is most effective when it stays close to that jolt, especially the moment gestational diabetes stops being the working theory and becomes type 1.
A survival story that settles on fatigue, work limits, and the practical realities of recovery.
This episode centers on the aftermath of sudden cardiac arrest, but the deeper subject is the slow, uneven work of recovery, returning to work, and living with a brain that does not feel quite the same.
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Three hosts and psychologist Dr Emily talk vulnerability, therapy, and imperfection with guests.
Fearne Cotton interviews guests like Boy George and Bryony Gordon about mental health and identity.
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford pairs therapy insight with Black TV recaps, maternal health, and history.
Two hosts with Parkinson's disease discuss sex and personal experiences, touching on embarrassment and religious upbringing.
Two non-medical experts with Parkinson's disease discuss their personal experiences living with the condition and reflect on the significance of World Parkinson's Day and awareness campaigns.
Two hosts with Parkinson's discuss their differing approaches to researching the disease, with one enjoying it and the other finding it scary, while sharing personal experiences and reactions to medical articles.
Johnny discusses his recovery journey after undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson's, sharing details about the procedure and his post-operative experience.
Two hosts with Parkinson's discuss feelings of futility and the emotional struggle of living with a progressive disease.
Kitty and Emma talk through a Parkinson's diagnosis from the first shock of it, with dry, careful humour.
Kitty Fitton opens by marking eight years with Parkinson's and a milestone birthday fast approaching.
Kitty Fitton opens the conversation by saying she is not a medical professional and by noting her own eight years living with Parkinson's disease.
Kitty Fitton sits down with Kevin Ramshaw for a warm catch-up about Parkinson’s, care, and community.
Kitty Fitton opens by naming Parkinson's and refusing to let it become the whole story.
Kitty Fitton opens the programme with Sheena from Dementia Wellington.
The host Kitty discusses her recent personal struggles, including living with Parkinson's, family issues, and life challenges, in an informal chat with Katherine on her radio show.
Kitty Fitton interviews Michael Doyle about his cardiac arrest in 2020 and how it impacted their relationship and his health recovery.
Kitty Fitton discusses her personal experience with Parkinson's and a blog post titled 'Parkinson's Causes Depression' that sparked significant reaction, leading into a conversation with Catherine Scullion.
Kitty interviews Kieran about his life, including his experiences with autism and his hobby of stand-up comedy, in a casual conversation about ordinary challenges.
Kitty Fitton opens with a cold-weather check-in and welcomes Erin, a friend from the school run.
Kitty Vitton sits down with Mike Doyle to talk about the day he survived sudden cardiac arrest.