A death is a terrible event whenever it occurs, but even more so when it's inside your community. One Austintown man is using his artistic talents to try and relieve some of that sadness and fight his own internal battle as well.

Ron Moore is an Austintown man with Parkinson's, a disease that affects one's memory, motor skills and other difficult symptoms.

Recently, Moore has done three portraits following tragic events in the Mahoning Valley including 16-year old Brock Jones, who passed in a car accident, 2-month old Aubrey Currey who died of the flu, and 3-year old Keilub Paul, who was shot in an alleged accident. 

When memorializing a local victim, Moore does his best to meet with the loved ones personally to deliver the portraits. He tells us there are plenty of tears shed and thanks given in the end.

"By the end it felt like I was the one being blessed," said Moore

The families of Jones and Paul have already been given Moore's work with Currey's portrait framed and ready to be delivered. 

Moore uses creating portraits as a way to exercise his motor skills and fight back against his Parkinson's.

"We aren't defined by a diagnosis, but by the passion that wells up inside us," Moore says