I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson\u2019s Disease in 2014 at the age of 48. Devastated as I was, it started me on a path of reflection, and I eventually developed the resolve to fight for my most cherished abilities.<\/p>\n
I have been a skier and cyclist for most of my life. I love the speed, the community and the athleticism of these silent sports.<\/p>\n
And then I lost them both to Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n
Skiing was the first to go.\u00a0 I could not initiate turns equally on both sides. It was before my PD diagnosis and my skiing became inexplicably sloppy. I blamed my equipment, the snow, the weather, until calamity struck and I was injured.\u00a0 Post PD diagnosis, I continued to try, but found that I could no longer reliably turn left. I had to stop.<\/p>\n
Next, I lost cycling. My legs fell out of sequence when I pedalled \u2013 one leg was compliant, rotating in a circle like normal, while the other combatively followed an irregular shape under the control of random spasms and muscle seizures. Cycling became a chore \u2013 an exercise in frustration \u2013 and I had to stop this too.<\/p>\n
But I was not ready to give up on these two loves.<\/p>\n
Medication calmed my misfirings and training helped to restore balance and strength. With preparation, I can now cycle again. I go as fast as I can, play in the wind, conquer hills, race with no finish line. The joy is back.\u00a0 I train intentionally, with the goal of improvement, and my skills today are the best that they have ever been.\u00a0 In 2019 I co-founded a Parkinson\u2019s cycling group called the\u00a0Rigid Riders\u00a0to motivate people with Parkinson\u2019s to take charge of their symptom management through intense exercise.<\/p>\n
I can also ski again. And even though I am a little more cautious now, I consciously savour each turn.<\/p>\n
Especially to the left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"menu_order":10,"template":"","team_designation":[],"team_department":[6],"class_list":["post-43","team","type-team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","team_department-parkies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/team"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"team_designation","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_designation?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"team_department","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rigidriders.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_department?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}