In late 2013, my friend Drew Walker told me that he had been diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease (EOPD). At the time, he’d been living with the disease for five years and over that period the symptoms had slowly progressed. Drew has been a friend of mine since college and we’ve kept in touch over the years. When I heard about Drew’s illness, I wanted to help. I decided to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research by dedicating an Ironman 70.3 race in support of his fight against the disease.
In the end, I was able to raise about $2,800 with the support of family, friends and my company’s matching contribution. However, my wife contributed the most by putting up with my crazy training schedule. I committed to 6 days/week of training for almost a year to complete the Ironman 70.3, which is comprised of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. It was a difficult journey, but definitely worth it to help a friend.
If you’re interested in a detailed account of the race, see my fundraising page at the following link – http://apdaparkinson.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.personalCampaign&participantID=13213 . Spoiler alert – I finished the race!