Please help David, Ben, Philip and Peter who completed the Prudential 100 mile challenge  on 31 July to raise £50,000 to find a cure for Parkinson's Disease as soon as possible.

FUNDRAISING CLOSES VERY SOON 

David says 

“I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 and have always been determined it was not going to get the better of me.  I am lucky that the drugs which control the symptoms are still working well, and I do a lot of exercise to slow down the progression of the disease. 

But the condition is progressive and millions of people around the world suffer from Parkinson’s.  That is why we need better treatments – and indeed a cure – as soon as possible, which is why I wanted to complete this 100-mile cycle challenge. The money we are raising will help enormously towards that cause."

Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a condition where certain cells in the brain start to die, so that it can no longer produce enough dopamine – a chemical which is vital for proper functioning of the body.  The main effects are tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement, but people with Parkinson's can also experience insomnia and tiredness, difficulties with speech and swallowing, digestive problems, pain and depression.  And things get worse over time so that patients may become housebound and dependent upon care.

While there are several drugs which can control these symptoms, they can lose their impact after a while and also have unpleasant side effects.

The urgent need for a cure

What is desperately needed is a cure – some way to slow down or stop the death of those brain cells.  But it can take 20 years or more for a new drug to be conceived, laboratory tested, trialled with volunteers and finally approved by all the relevant authorities.   This is simply too long to wait, for the 130,000 people with Parkinson’s in the UK, and millions worldwide.

Parkinson’s UK  is now promoting research to deliver better treatments much faster.  One approach is through repurposing; finding an existing medication that is already approved for another seemingly unrelated illness which is found to have an impact on the symptoms or underlying progress of Parkinson’s.  (Repurposing is not a new idea; aspirin is now used for several conditions never imagined when it was first used!)

One exciting area is being researched by Professor Stephanie Cragg and her team at Oxford University. They are drawing on recent discoveries that the nerve cells that produce dopamine also produce another chemical called GABA. Some drugs are already approved for insomnia caused by GABA disorders, and there is evidence that these GABA-based drugs could work for Parkinson’s.  If the findings are positive, we could have a new treatment for Parkinson’s in a.fraction of the time taken to develop and approve a new drug.

Free prize draw

The prize-winning London artist Eliza Southwood, whose grandfather lived with Parkinson’s, has kindly donated a print of her picture ‘Helping Hand’ and there will be a free prize draw for this print.  (See picture below)

Anyone can enter this draw - without any payment - by emailing their contact details to davidbrodie7@gmail.com - there is no requirement for any donation to be made. However if you make a donation, it will be assumed that you would like to be entered into the draw and so do not need to email us.

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