I was annoyed by my neighbor's noise. Months later, I'd helped raise $80,000 for her care.

Heidi Widmer now helps her neighbor, who has Parkinson's.

Courtesy of Heidi Widmer Heidi Widmer is a 35-year-old who moved into an apartment building in Los Angeles in July.

For the first two weeks, she heard a loud sound from the apartment above and was annoyed.

She found out the noise was being made by her neighbor, who has Parkinson's.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Heidi Widmer.

It has been edited for length and clarity.

In July, I moved into an apartment in Los Angeles , exhausted from a six-day drive across the country from New York.

All I wanted to do was get into the apartment and sleep, and luckily, my bed had been delivered on the same day I arrived.

Trying to fall asleep at 2 a.m., all I could hear was a loud noise coming from the apartment upstairs .

It sounded as if someone was bowling.

Although I was tempted to shout for them to be quiet, I held my tongue — I was the new neighbor and didn't want to be difficult.

But the noise just didn't seem to stop.

Whoever lived up there also never came downstairs.

Who lives up there? I thought to myself.