After 2 NYC Marathons with Team Leary Firefighters Foundation, 2 Ride Ataxia fundraisers for FARA, 2 BP Bike MS rides from Houston to Austin, 1 Bike MS Coastal Challenge & 1 Challenged Athletes Foundation San Diego Tri (and other fundraising rides & walks for worthy causes), I’ve finally scored a rare, truly-uber-difficult-to-snag spot with Team Fox for the 2015 NYC Marathon! #Woot

If you’re a regular follower of this blog, then you know how much I’ve wanted a way to pay-it-forward to the Michael J. Fox Foundation ever since the early days of my diagnosis with MS. It was Michael J. Fox who gave me much-needed inspiration & motivation to take charge of a life – my life – that had been intersected & altered with chronic illness, pain & disability. His attitude & actions in the face of Parkinson’s helped me to re-envision & refashion my future-life with the founding principle of focusing on what I was still able to do, rather than ruminating on what I’d lost & what I was no longer able to do.

Later, in 2002, I had the great fortune of meeting Michael J. Fox when I was a guest on Oprah – along with Mort Kondracke & his beautiful daughters, Alexandra Kondracke & Andrea Kondracke, who shared the amazing story of Milly Kondracke (another person with PD whose strength & spirit continues to uplift me.) After receiving such kindness & support – and a truly awesome hug! – from Michael J. Fox, I vowed to someday find a way to thank him with more than just words. (you can search “Michael J. Fox” in my blog for more of the story, if you so desire.)

I’ll be participating with Team Fox in honor of my Grampa Parker, Billy Taylor (my uncle), Margaret (my best friend’s mother), another good friend’s (Sarah’s) father, Milly Kondracke – and many others I know who have loved ones with Parkinson’s and/or who have Parkinson’s themselves. Please follow this link to my personal Team Fox fundraising page to read more about my passion for raising awareness & dollars for Parkinson’s research, and why contributing to the discovery of better treatments – and ultimately a cure for Parkinson’s Disease! – means so very much to me, a person who has Multiple Sclerosis.

Please spread the news & share this story; please be a part of my hard-won physical efforts to make as big of a difference as possible. I promise to do my part by “racing towards a cure” on November 1st – 26.2 miles – with all of the good & gracious folks of Team Fox. I’m already deep into training-mode. I’m giving this everything I have, which isn’t easy after the last year that I’ve endured health-wise. But I’m planning for an epic come-back – and it’s already begun. #NoOpportunityWasted

My training is going really well thus far, and that is largely due to my motivation to make a real & big difference for Team Fox. Whenever fatigue, pain or wonkiness (balance issues and/or that MS version of vertigo) try to take me over & shut me down, I’m most often able to find a way to rally to do some form of training for this upcoming event, because of how much it matters to me to be able to say a huge-o-mongous Thank You with every bit of raising awareness & funds that I can muster for my action-fueled mission of this marathon with Team Fox.

So please, be a part of my great adventure! Everybody loves a fox, right? Including Dug, service dog in training. =0)

Five million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease – a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder. In the United States, 60,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year alone. There is no known cure for Parkinson’s disease.

Team Fox is The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s (MJFF) grassroots community fundraising program. It is made up of thousands of people worldwide who raise funds and awareness for Parkinson’s disease research. All funds raised through Team Fox go directly to MJFF to further its mission to accelerate the delivery of life-changing treatments, and ultimately a cure, to people with Parkinson’s disease.
Help us speed a cure for Parkinson’s!