“Heated Rivalry” author explains how hockey series is helping her battle Parkinson's
- - “Heated Rivalry” author explains how hockey series is helping her battle Parkinson's
Wesley StenzelDecember 31, 2025 at 2:30 AM
0
Harold Feng/Getty; Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max
Rachel Reid in Toronto on Nov. 24, 2025; Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie on 'Heated Rivalry'Key points -
Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2023.
The author said that in the wake of the show's success, a Parkinson's expert reached out to her.
"That could change things for me because I'm not really getting the treatment that I should be getting," she explained.
Rachel Reid is discussing her battle with Parkinson's disease.
The author behind the Game Changers novel series, which spawned the hit hockey romance show Heated Rivalry, discussed the relationship between her health and her work in a new interview with Variety.
"It's making it hard to write because I can barely control a mouse," Reid explained of her Parkinson's, which was diagnosed in 2023. "I can't type for very long. It's hard for me to sit in a chair for very long. I need to figure out new ways to write. I don't know if that will be voice to text. I don't know if I can write that way. It doesn't feel natural, but I need to figure out something because it is taking me a very long time to write now."
Rachel Reid/Instagram
Rachel Reid
However, the author said that Heated Rivalry's success — and one particular interview by the series' creator/showrunner Jacob Tierney — has helped improve her situation.
"An amazing thing that's come out of this though is Jacob was on CNN a few weeks ago," Reid said. "For whatever reason, the interviewer asked him about my Parkinson's diagnosis. I thought it was kind of odd, but then the next day, one of the top Parkinson's experts in the world reached out to me and asked if he could help me."
Reid explained the impact of that outreach. "I've never gotten to talk to a Parkinson's expert," she said. "I've been on a five-year waiting list here because I live in a very small place. Now he's found me a Parkinson's expert, a neurologist, and I have an appointment in a couple weeks. That could change things for me because I'm not really getting the treatment that I should be getting."
The author noted one particular piece of advice that has improved her daily life. "He also told me how to change my medication so I can sleep because I never slept," she said. "That change made me sleep through the night, which really helps with writing."
Reid previously detailed her experience with Parkinson's in an interview with Today.
"It mostly affects the right side of my body, which is my dominant side," she said. "So it does make writing and using a computer challenging. It makes signing books challenging. My plan next year is to do a lot, a lot of events, a lot of traveling, all of it, because I can."
Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie on 'Heated Rivalry'
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
Reid said that she remains "optimistic" about her future. "There's a lot of new treatments, a lot of talk of a possible cure," she said. "I feel like I'm very early stages. I'm 45, and that's pretty young for Parkinson's. But for the most part, yeah, I'm mostly fine. I just shake a lot."
Reid launched the Game Changers series with 2018's Game Changer. She released Heated Rivalry the following year, and has written six additional books in the 2020s, including 2022's The Long Game, which serves as a direct sequel to Heated Rivalry.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
