Join Our First Annual Walk For Parkinson’s

I am so happy to invite you to the first annual Walk in support of U-Turn Parkinson’s. I would be honoured to have your family to join our family for this day of raising awareness, raising funds and having fun!

Why do we need an event like this? It comes down to the many people living with Parkinson’s who understand that ‘exercise is medicine’ yet have no Parkinson’s specific programming available to them.

The Reality of Parkinson’s Today

More than 10 million people in the world have Parkinson’s. There are around 100,000 in Canada. It is the fastest growing neurological disease in the world. It is degenerative. It is guaranteed to get worse. It has more than forty possible symptoms of which the ‘gold standard’ of treatment is over fifty years old, is not one hundred percent effective and is not available to everyone who needs it.

Many think it is just a shaky hand. In fact, Parkinson’s is a life sentence of being trapped in a body that increasingly refuses to obey commands. A prison of slowness and rigidity where individuals are left bound with clouded minds and muted voices; locked in mental and physical pain, slowly and silently dying.

Enough.

Parkinson’s was defined over 200 years ago. Since then, humanity has put men on the moon, eradicated polio, changed HIV from a death sentence to a chronic illness, has mapped the human genome and discovered thousands of galaxies among the stars; and yet, has provided precious little beyond that one fifty-year-old drug.

We Must Do Better

In the midst of this reality U-Turn Parkinson’s empowers our PD Athletes in their pursuit of wellness. Together we tackle PD head on contending with the disease in an effort to preserve as much of our abilities as possible. Strengthening our bodies and minds so as to avoid falls, hospitalizations, additional medications, and to keep as much control over our lives as possible. 

We know that what we do at U-Turn Parkinson’s is both needed and effective. I was moved by a story I was told recently; “I had completely given up and had nowhere to turn. I had reached out to MAID (medical assistance in dying) and was preparing to walk that road when I was introduced to U-Turn Parkinson’s. U-Turn PD helped me understand the disease better, to understand that this wasn’t the end and that there was much more life to be lived! U-Turn Parkinson’s literally saved my life.”

U-Turn PD Client

It is stories like this that confirm for me the work we are doing and that emboldens me to ask you to join us. Come walk with us, raise funds and help us #uturnpd in many more lives.  

Live Your Best!

Tim