Monday 22 July 2013

A Walk In The Park

As many on you know through my twitter page, on the morning of Saturday 20th July I took part in a walk at Greenwich Park to raise money for Parkinsons UK

It was the first organised walk for the charity in the London area and there was a good turn out of people. Many were sufferer's of Parkinson, so it was a real challenge for them to take part in this walk. 


Cheering at the start line!

If you don't know about the disease already, here is a simple explanation;
Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition. Basically, people who have Parkinson's have a lack of the chemical called dopamine because some of the nerve cells in their brain have died. As a result their movements become slower and it takes them a long time to do things. Over time this gets worse along with other symptoms.


The symptoms vary from each person, but the most common ones are; 

Tremors (shaking)
Slowness of movement
Rigidity (stiffness)

There are many other physical symptoms from bladder and bowel problems, falls and dizziness to speech, communication and swallowing problems. As well as this Parkinson's can cause mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, dementia, hallucinations and memory loss.


There is no real cause of this disease, a small percentage is genetic but a lot of cases are not. It can happen to a male or female at any age and the worse thing is there is no cure

Yes there are medications out there that can help ease the pain and the stiffness or the tremors, but as of yet a cure has not been found and over the years the condition becomes worse. 

So to all of you who took the time to donate, I would like to say thank you so, very much! Your money will now help aid the research to find a cure.

If you didn't have the chance to donate, and would still like to then it's not too late. I will leave my JustGiving page open for a few more weeks. You can donate here if you still wish to www.justgiving.com/nazaneen-ghaffar 



On the day the weather was perfect (well of course it was!). We had cool and cloudy conditions, which was ideal for the walk as the last few days had been very hot! 

We all met at the bandstand in Greenwich Park for 10am. Before we set off I said a few words to everyone - it was really good to see so many people there, sufferers of Parkinsons and their families to support. 




I bought my family along too, as we all have a personal connection with the disease and wanted to show our support.

With my Daddy and on the left is Sandra - Celebrity and VIP Manager at Parkinsons UK.

With my mother - and you thought I was short!
Along the way I had the opportunity to talk to everyone who came along to take part. It was great to hear so much positivity from suffers of this awful disease and the immense support their families and Parkinsons UK gives them. 

There was an option of walking either a 2 mile route or 5 miles. I was astounded by the strength of the people with Parkinsons. Most of them pushed themselves to walk the 5 miles. Their mental strength really out-weighed their physical strength - I was in awe. 

A couple of gentlemen who I had the honour of chatting to were Alan and Terry. Alan (on the left of the photo) has suffered with Parkinsons for over 20 years. He walked the 5 miles and was telling me that although he was in pain, he really wanted to do it for the charity as they have given him so much support over the years. Interestingly they are both also HUGE fans of Stephen Dixon!

Alan and Terry





By around lunchtime everyone had made it to the finish line where we sat down together to have a picnic and a well earned rest!




All in all it was a fantastic day with lots of money raised. Thank you all once again for your donations and support - it really meant a lot to me and Parkinsons UK



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