Not only are they living with a progressive, incurable condition, but some people with Parkinson’s are meeting it face on by taking on incredible exercise challenges. Here are 12 people with Parkinson’s who are pushing themselves to their limits
1. Gary Shaughnessy: “Live life, love life, beat Parkinson’s”
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015, Gary Shaughnessy CBE, now 58, has undertaken several gruelling exercise challenges over the years to raise money for Parkinson’s UK, where he is chair of the board of trustees. By the end of this year and with the support of friends, he plans to have covered 2,025 miles by taking part in a number of challenges.
In April, he ran the London Marathon. He then completed the Three Lakes Kayak Challenge, kayaking along three lakes in three different nations in three days, starting at Lyn Tegid Lake in Wales, before kayaking along Lake Windermere in England, and finishing with Scotland’s Loch Awe. In the same month, he whizzed along Europe’s longest zip wire – almost a mile long – at Zip World Penrhyn Quarry in Bethesda, North Wales.
In May, he cycled 569 miles over seven days from Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England to Hastings on England’s south coast. In June, he ran 10 marathons in 10 days – nine of them in southern England, and the other at Lake Zurich in Switzerland.
In August, he cycled through Norway in the Arctic Circle alongside 13 other people with Parkinson’s. Then, at the beginning of September, he took part in a marathon relay in Silchester, England, and led the winning team, which clocked up 22.7 miles in two hours.
On 9 November, he will take part in the Westport Sea2Summit race, in Westport, Ireland, which combines running, cycling, and hiking up Croagh Patrick mountain. Then, on 24 November, Gary will run in the Zurich San Sebastian marathon. Phew!
Asked why he does it, Gary says: “I have had wonderful support from friends, family and colleagues, and the sport gives me purpose and joy, as well as an opportunity to raise my voice and awareness of Parkinson’s. When I run, I don’t feel like I have Parkinson’s, and when I cycle, I feel like I have Parkinson’s-lite. As I take on these challenges, I get to poke Parkinson’s in the eye and have fun doing it.”
Visit Gary’s website to watch videos of Gary’s exercise challenges and to donate. All donations are matched by the Z Zurich Foundation. His motto is “Live life, love life, beat Parkinson’s.”
2. Keith Wilson: “My motivation is to try and stay alert physically and mentally”
Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s four years ago, keen runner and climber Keith Wilson, 73, from Darlington in the UK, has not let his diagnosis slow him down – quite the opposite.
This year, he’s completed three big exercise challenges. In April, he and some friends spent five days cycling 440 km around the Zuiderzee in the Netherlands, pedalling for around eight hours a day and only stopping for short breaks.
In June, he tackled the 221-km Haute Route from Chamonix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland, which is considered one of the world’s hardest treks. Over ten days, he and his companions traversed rugged, snow-topped mountain paths, often in adverse conditions, and overnighted in remote mountain huts. “I think the Haute Route was probably the limit of my current abilities,” says Keith, adding: “On the longest day, we started at half past eight [in the morning] and finished at a quarter to 11 [at night].”
Earlier in September, he walked Scotland’s 154-km West Highland Way from Glasgow to Fort William in the Highlands in five days, averaging around eight hours of walking a day.
“When I was first diagnosed, I thought it marked the end of my adventures and I was headed for a life as a couch potato,” says Keith. Now he says his challenges are driven by a need for adrenaline and natural dopamine. “It keeps me going. It gives me a dopamine hit doing them and a dopamine boost planning them and reflecting on them. My motivation is to try and stay alert physically and mentally.”
Read more about Keith’s passion for cycling.
3. Olivier Deharynck: “My passion is not only a hobby, but also a powerful medicine”
Olivier Deharynck, a 52-year-old triathlete from Genval in Belgium, took on two physically demanding challenges in two consecutive months this year. In May, he cycled approximately 1,600 km on a velomobile (a three-wheeled recumbent bicycle) in ten days from Nivelles, Belgium, to Montpellier University Hospital in France.
Then, in June, he challenged himself to Nordic-walk 108 km from Liège, Belgium, to Dinant, Belgium, in 24 hours. Olivier says: “Despite the daily challenges that Parkinson’s brings, I choose to see the positive in every situation. As a passionate triathlete, I have discovered that my passion is not only a hobby, but also a powerful medicine. My goal is to share this experience with others, to convince them of the importance of sport in the fight against illness and to encourage them to adopt an active lifestyle.”
Find out more about Olivier’s adventures.
4. Dejan Đuran: “In those moments on the bike, I feel alive”
When his Parkinson’s symptoms made hiking too difficult, Dejan Đuran from Croatia turned to an electric bike so he could still exercise while enjoying nature. Now, apart from running his own Parkinson’s organisation, Living with Parkinson’s – Cycling, he dedicates much of his time to undertaking long-distance bike rides to raise awareness about the condition.
“My first long ride, in 2022, was the Via Adriatica, a route spanning 1,600 km in Croatia. It was a turning point for me. I was scared of the route and scared of my disease. My son Luka came along as my support, and it was the adventure of a lifetime. I felt like I was truly living again after a long time.
“After the Via Adriatica, I undertook the ‘Forrest Gump’ project, which didn’t have a specific goal – just to ride as far as possible. I passed through seven countries and covered 3,700 km. Last year, I rode the EuroVelo 6, covering 4,700 km, starting from the Atlantic and ending at the Black Sea.”
Earlier this year, Dejan cycled part of the EuroVelo 13 route, starting at the end of April in Bulgaria and finishing in Rostock, Germany, at the end of July, having covered 5,500 km.
“In those moments, on the bike, I feel alive, I feel like I can overcome any obstacle. And that is a feeling I can’t find anywhere else. Therefore, it’s perhaps not surprising that I choose longer and longer routes,” says Dejan.
“The goal of all my projects is to raise awareness about living with the disease and to promote the possibilities for people with neurodegenerative diseases. From the projects, the motto ‘Start now and immediately’ was born. This is the most important message I want to convey: don’t wait for tomorrow, start now and immediately, because tomorrow may not exist.”
Read more about Dejan’s passion for cycling
5. Ivo de Bisschop: “I am always looking for challenges”
On 27 August, 69-year-old Ivo de Bisschop, chair of Belgian Parkinson’s association Stop Parkinson, and some friends set off on the Peloton Parkinson exercise challenge, a five-day, 450-km bike ride from Eupen to Ostend along the Belgian border to raise awareness of Parkinson’s.
Diagnosed with the condition in April 2017, in 2020, Ivo walked all the way around Belgium, clocking up 1,500 km in 49 days. He then had the idea for a Peloton Parkinson exercise challenge, to cycle along the Belgian border from Ostend to Eupen, which first took place last year. This year, he decided to cycle the same route in reverse, and raised approximately 15,000 euros.
Asked about the highlight of the ride, he said: “The reception in Dilsen on day one and in Ostend on day five was magnificent – many people formed a guard of honour, and an orchestra and the mayor were there too.”
He added: “I am always looking for challenges, and exercise is the only thing we as Parkinson’s patients can do as a defence against Parkinson’s.”
6. Bertrand Delhom: “Everyone with Parkinson’s needs to fulfil themselves”
In April this year, 60-year-old Frenchman Bertrand Delhom became the first person with Parkinson’s to sail around the globe. As part of a team taking part in the eight-month Ocean Globe Race, Bertrand achieved this feat just four days after World Parkinson’s Day 2024.
Despite having Parkinson’s, Bertrand was a ‘normal’ team member, carrying out two watches a day, as well as helping with cooking and stewardship. Balance issues meant that he restricted himself to certain parts of the boat.
Always a passionate sailor, Bertrand took on the challenge to raise awareness and “change the way we look at Parkinson’s”. “How you act enormously affects your Parkinson’s and its progression, hence why it is important to fulfil one’s self,” he says. “For me, it was sailing on a world tour, but for others it could be dancing or drawing. Regardless of the activity, everyone diagnosed with Parkinson’s needs to find something that will help them fulfil themselves.”
Bertrand’s latest ambition is to take part in the Transat Jacques Vabre boat race from Le Havre to Martinique in the Caribbean.
Read more about Bertrand’s round-the-world adventure in this year’s Ocean Globe Race
7. Patrick Morrissey: “You can pretty much achieve anything”
In June this year, Patrick Morrissey, an American man with Parkinson’s, rowed 2,800 miles across the Pacific Ocean, when he joined a team competing in the World’s Toughest Row race. As part of a four-man team called Human Powered Potential, Patrick – who had never rowed before taking up the challenge – spent 41 days at sea rowing from Monterey, California, to Hanalei, Kaua’i in Hawaii. He endured a punishing schedule where two team members rowed in alternating shifts of 24 hours a day, with two hours on, two hours off. Although Patrick would find that his tremor would sometimes disappear completely when he was rowing, at other times during the race he had to take extra rest.
When they began, the team set a goal to raise US $2,800 – a dollar for each mile they planned to cover – for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. But after smashing that goal, they set a new one of US $41,000 – a dollar for each day they spent at sea.
Morrissey told CNN after the race: “If you put the right people around you” – in a boat or not – “you can pretty much achieve anything.”
8. Belgian Parkinson’s organisation Parkili: “Those who participate will be faced with an intense and unforgettable adventure”
On 19 October, 16 people with Parkinson’s from Belgian Parkinson’s organisation Parkili will attempt to climb the Himalayas in Nepal to raise awareness of the condition. The team, whose ages range from 39 to 67, are aiming to reach Tsergo Ri, at 4,984 metres altitude, and will be accompanied by nine ‘buddies’ who will offer medical support throughout the 12-day trek.
Describing the expedition, Parkili says: “Moving mountains for Parkinson’s together is a unique experience, creating friendships and a feeling of personal empowerment for life. Those who participate will be faced with an intense and unforgettable adventure and a sense of achievement, which will not only boost their own mental and physical resilience but will also inspire others to make dreams come true and keep moving.”
Read about Parkili’s upcoming Nepal trek
9. Robin Walker: “There was an overwhelming atmosphere of positive energy”
This summer, 14 cyclists with Parkinson’s took up the Arctic Circle Challenge to cycle 635 km across Norway. Organised by Norwegian cycling club ZWAP (Zwifters Against Parkinson’s), the adventure saw the team – whose 22 members came from Canada and the UK as well as Norway – pedal from Bodø, one of the world’s Northernmost cities, to Tromsø, the capital of the Arctic, over eight days, starting on 3 August.
Robin Walker, 68, from the UK, was one of the people with Parkinson’s taking part, and increased his already energetic fitness regimen for six months in the run-up to the challenge. The month before it began, he completed 15 rides totalling 942 km. “This may seem daunting to some, but it was what was needed to succeed,” says Robin, who took part to raise money for Cure Parkinson’s.
Speaking of the highlights of the ride, he said: “What struck me more than anything was the wonderful positivity of everyone involved. Parkinson’s disease is an incurable, degenerative neurological condition, and we all face some pretty unpleasant symptoms in the future, but there was an overwhelming atmosphere of positive energy, good humour and mutual support that powered us through to the finish in Tromsø. As a group it gave us the opportunity to raise awareness of the link between Parkinson’s and exercise, and to raise funds to help find a cure.”
Donate to Robin Walker’s JustGiving fund.
10. Guillaume Brachet: “‘Guillaume vs. Parkinson: back to ze Loire!’ was a symbol”
Two years after he travelled solo up France’s Loire River by kayak on his ‘Parkinson sur Loire’ challenge, 35-year-old Frenchman and person with Parkinson’s Guillaume Brachet was back on the Loire in his kayak again last summer. This time, he was competing in the Loire 725, a seven-day, 725-km kayak race on the river, alongside teammates Antoine Dubost and Benoît Rossignol.
“‘Parkinson sur Loire’ was about fundraising. I was literally rowing against the flow, and very much on my own,” says Guillaume. “In 2024, ‘Guillaume vs. Parkinson: back to ze Loire!’ was a symbol. Not raising money, not on my own anymore, and going with the flow. And a tribute to Michael J. Fox again.”
This time, he had to paddle nonstop for 15 hours a day, with two to three hours of sleep in between. Unfortunately, at the end of day six, after 95 hours on the water, 631 km in, Guillaume had to withdraw from the challenge because the physical toll became too much.
“Upon reaching the last 100 km, the conditions got harder. Gusts of wind were sending me right or left, the lack of sleep didn’t allow enough rest, and the levodopa was becoming inefficient for the vast majority of the time spent on the water. I ended up capsizing in the waves, and my teammates would have had to look after me if I had carried on. Antoine did the last 94 km alone to bring the team across the finish line.”
Despite this setback Guillaume plans to return to the Loire next year. “The Loire 725 is up again, but not as a single race. It’s going to be an event including seven races – a race a day for a week. I’ll take part in one or two of them,” he says.
11. Sarah Frow: “My challenge gave me a voice to talk about my YOPD journey”
It was the incredible feat of another person with Parkinson’s, Krish Nair climbing Everest last year, that inspired Sarah Frow, a 47-year-old personal trainer with Young Onset Parkinson’s (YOPD), to undertake her own exercise challenge: running 225 km along the Pilgrims’ Way in Kent in the UK.
Sarah planned to run for six days – running at least 33km each day – from Winchester Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral to raise £20,000 for the Parkinson’s Centre for Integrated Therapy (PICT) at the University of Kent.
After eight months of training, Sarah set off in May. Although she has completed ultra-marathons in the past, this was the hardest physical challenge she’d ever done, and she was also feeling the pressure of expectation.
“I didn’t want to let anyone down. My challenge gave me a voice to talk about my YOPD journey. The University of Kent enabled me to speak to TV and radio, so there was no backing out. I had to achieve – so many people had sponsored me!”
Although she suffered from fatigue and fell over once, she says she “loved every second”. “It was a beautiful route. It was also a special moment when I arrived at Canterbury Cathedral to be welcomed by familiar faces.”
What is even better is that she has more than doubled her fundraising target, with a current total of £42,500 raised for PICT.
Donate to Sarah Frow’s JustGiving fund
12. Jagdeep Aujla: “The Parkinson’s side is not winning”
Day 1: finished🥊 @ParkinsonsUK @WorldPDCongress #parkinsons pic.twitter.com/HIKwcTKLVm
— Jagdeep (@DopamineWarrior) September 10, 2024
On 9 September, Jagdeep Aujla, from Ilford in the UK, embarked on a 240-km trek in the Annapurna Mountain range in Nepal to raise money for Parkinson’s UK. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021, Jagdeep, who is in his fifties, is due to finish his challenge on 1 October.
This is not the first challenge Jagdeep has undertaken. In 2022, the IT manager and Parkinson’s boxing teacher climbed 5,895 metres to the top of Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, raising over £10,000 for Parkinson’s UK.
Jagdeep says: “It’s vital to raise awareness and funding for research, if not for my generation [then] for future generations.” He is also spreading the word about the importance of exercise for people with Parkinson’s: “I reached out to others with Parkinson’s in Nepal and showed them important exercises to slow the progression,” he says.
“My other objective is to help ethnic minorities who are missing out on the opportunities of exercise and possible research involvement.”
Updating Parkinson’s Europe during this year’s challenge, Jagdeep said: “The trek day two is going very well. The Parkinson’s side is not winning.” Good luck, Jagdeep!
Donate to Jagdeep’s JustGiving fund.
