Parkinson's disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder of the brain. Symptoms include tremors, stiffness or rigidity, and slowness of movement. According to Parkinson's New Zealand, approximately 1 percent of people over the age of 60 have the condition. There is no cure so treatment will normally focus on managing symptoms, typically with medication. Loss of the sense of smell is an often overlooked but remarkably prevalent early symptom of Parkinson's disease.

When he was a 24-year-old medical student living in London, Faii Ong was assigned to care for a 103-year-old patient who suffered from Parkinson’s, the progressive neurological condition that affects a person’s ease of movement. After watching her struggle to eat a bowl of soup, Ong asked another nurse what more could be done to help the woman. “There’s nothing,” he was grimly told. Ong, now 26, didn’t accept the answer.