The Spinning Wheels Relay kicked off on July 27th when the Eastern team enjoyed their fish and chips in the rain at Deer Lake, Newfoundland, and the Western team dipped their tires at Pacific Ocean at Victoria, British Columbia. On August 30th, 6 explorers flew in Whitehorse, Yukon, approaching the north pole on two wheels towards the Arctic Ocean.
After thousands of kilometers, breathtaking landscapes, falls on gravel roads, sleepless nights in tents, countless encounters, tears, and laughters, three teams finally converged at Collingwood, Ontario on September 17th. From Collingwood, we rode as one team, cycling towards our final destination, Ottawa. We will gear down at Ottawa on September 28th and celebrate with our community. (Come join us at Ottawa, sign up here https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/living-better-with-parkinsons/events/spinning-wheels-finale-in-ottawa/)
For the past three weeks, over 80 cyclists joined us on the rides, and over ten reception events were organized to welcome us by local parkinson groups.
“Thank you for doing this for us!” A lady said to me in tears when we arrived at Gaitway neurophysio in Hamilton. “Parkinson brings me community, sense of belonging, and active lifestyle. I come here three times a week. These people have become my best friends.”
“You are so inspiring. I’m not able to ride a bike, but I’m going to walk in my neighborhood.” An 80-year-old lady smiled to us, leaning towards her walking stick. She is a member of Erin’s exercise group in Kingston.
“My friends are still talking about the stories you shared. We are really lucky that we are part of this wonderful community.” We stayed at Virginia and Tom’s place in Cornwall, and they invited 50 friends over to celebrate. When we arrived at Hamilton, this lovely couple joined us for a group ride.
“Yesterday was one of the most inspiring things I have ever been a part of, so again-thank you, and the rest of the spinning wheels team for courage and inspiration.” This is one of the emails we received after our ride from Hamilton to Mississauga. The day started with a successful group ride. Over 80 riders showed up at the starting point, and more riders merged into our stream of cyclists along the way. In the afternoon, Passion for Parkinson hosted the riders and their family and friends with an amazing BBQ event.
In Collingwood, Catherine and her nonprofit Living Better with parkinson’s hosted a reception for us. “We need to share these stories. More people need to hear them.” After hearing our stories, two ladies said they would cycle together with us on next year’s relay .
“People like you give me reason and motivation to do this work.” Liana is a professor at Trenton University teaching Nero-psychology and movement disorder. She and her students lead weekly exercise classes for people with parkinson’s. These classes not only greatly help people with parkinson’s get moving but also greatly help students gain knowledge beyond textbooks, from lived experiences, and spending time with patients.
These are just a few of many encounters we had. Every day, heart-warming parkinson stories are told by us and by the people we meet. Having the disease is not something to be ashamed of, we can joke about each other’s symptoms and we can decide to live better with the disease. As we approach the end of this year’s relay, we feel more and more confident that the parkinson’s community is resilient and resourceful.
We invite you to celebrate life with parkinson’s with us.
