Just 2.5 hours of exercise a week can help control Parkinson's

THE outlook seemed bleak for Gary Shaughnessy when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease out of the blue almost 11 years ago. His doctor explained to him symptoms would worsen over time, and although treatments could help to manage some of them there was no cure.

- BY HANNA GEISSLER

As a high-ranking executive at Zurich Insurance, Gary, 59, was used to solving problems but admitted that "when you get a diagnosis like this, it's too big for you to find a solution". The shock news threatened to plunge him into depression.

But instead, with the support of his wife Janet and their three children, he decided he would not be defined by the disease and chose to focus on the many things he could still enjoy.

It is a mindset that has led him to travel the world taking on extraordinary challenges - including cycling from Liverpool to Ukraine, running 10 marathons in 10 days, and becoming a double world record holder in an unusual sport.

INSPIRE

He now plans to spend September taking on 30 sports in 30 days in a bid to inspire others to find an activity to help them feel a little more in control of their life with Parkinson's.

Gary says: "I've done a lot of things in the last 10 years I would never have done if I didn't have the condition. You have got to take the things you can do and go ahead and enjoy them." His 2015 diagnosis came after noticing a tremor in his finger while watching TV. It spread to his leg and was most noticeable when he was enjoying something or stressed.

"I went to see the doctor who thought it might be restless leg syndrome," he recalls. "Then they sent me to a consultant who got me to walk up and down outside his office and said, I'm pretty sure you've got Parkinson's. Broadly the message was I had this thing, it was incurable, I was going to decline over time. They could give me something that would mask symptoms but nothing that could stop it, and over time the side-effects of the drugs would probably not be good for me. It was one of those situations where you think: 'There must be something I can do about it'."