Lloyd Taylor has organized a national cycling event to raise money for research into Parkinson’s disease.Supplied
The organizer: Lloyd Taylor
The pitch: Helping raise $250,000
The cause: To fund programs that support people living with Parkinson’s disease
After he started having a slight twitch in his finger, Lloyd Taylor went to his doctor who assured him that it wasn’t Parkinson’s.
“I’d actually been to the doctor twice and been told both times, ‘Just be thankful you don’t have Parkinson’s. You’ve got symptoms that look like it but you don’t have it,’” Mr. Taylor recalled. When he went back a third time, he thought he’d get the same speech. Instead the doctor said; “I’m sorry to tell you, you’ve got Parkinson’s.”
From that moment on, Mr. Taylor changed his life. He sold his Toronto-based printing business and focused on his health. Part of that included cycling which he found eased his tremors.
This summer he’s taking part in the Spinning Wheels Relay to End Parkinson’s. It’s a 10,000-kilometre ride that involves three teams criss-crossing the country from different directions. They started last month and all the teams will finish in Ottawa on Sept. 27. Mr. Taylor, 57, plans to take turns riding with each team and he expects to cover around 5,000 km in total.
The group includes about 50 riders and they are hoping to raise $250,000 to fund organizations that support people and families living with Parkinson’s.
“One of the things about Parkinson’s is that it’s a disease that people tend to hide. It can be embarrassing to be in public with a tremor,” said Mr. Taylor. “My message is; it doesn’t have to be that way. You can get on a bike. You can push back.”
He noted that Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological disease in the world. “There’s no known cause, there’s no known cure, and the highest rate of per capita diagnosis is right here in Canada,” he said.
Mr. Taylor still has a lot of tremors, especially in the morning. But whenever he gets on his bike, everything calms down. “The tremors almost completely disappear and the miles just feel so good. It’s almost I feel like I’m flying.”