The Sparwood senior drop-in centre hosted its second annual walk for Parkinson’s disease last Saturday morning.
Many families and participants showed up in support of raising funds for this devastating disease.
Parkinson’s is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, causing those afflicted by it to lose control of motor systems as well as speech, cognition, mood and behaviour. Parkinson’s has no single known cause.
Participants of all ages took part in the walk with families, children and even pets coming out to support the people in their lives suffering from Parkinson’s.
The disease affects organizer Terry Hume. Several participants bore stickers on their green participation shirts saying, “I’m walking for Terry.”
“The centre is also hosting a silent auction in conjunction with the walk,” said Hume.
The walk itself provided two routes for participants, a long walk around the entirety of the city of Sparwood and a shorter one consisting of a few blocks from the drop-in centre to the Sparwood Public Library located just down the road.
This walk, Hume says, is for participants who have difficulty with movement.
Funds gathered from the walk will be used to support critical research and assist the 11,000 individuals living with Parkinson’s in British Columbia.