OREGON, OH (Toledo News Now) - Some residents in the greater Toledo area have spent the last year using boxing to cope with symptoms of a particularly difficult illness.
Parkinson's disease is an illness of the nervous system that affects a person's motor skills. The International Boxing Club in Oregon has been working with people with Parkinson's to combat the tremors, muscular rigidity and slowness brought on by the disease.
"This is a life-changer for me and, I'm sure, for a lot of these guys," said Craig Adams of Temperance. "I've had Parkinson's for eight years, and for the first six years, I didn't do anything."
Every year, 60,000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The illness can cause tremors so strong that it's difficult to eat, tie shoes, or even stand up.
"I have to plan every step if I want to get where I'm going from A to B," said Evelyn Ann Brennan of Walbridge. "I have to sort of plan out how many steps I can make to get to my destination."
The individuals at the International Boxing Club, through rigorous training, feel like champions in their effort to knock out Parkinson's.
"I was bitter. I tried to hide it. I denied it, but it got to the point where I couldn't hide it and I learned it wasn't good to deny it and fight it," Adams said. "They say that Parkinson's, that there's parts of our brain that are leaving and will never be back, and they say now the only thing that can change that is exercise."
"They're my champions. A lot of people don't understand. [They] say, 'Why do you call them champions?' The people here are fighters, have a battle in life with this disease and they refuse to lose," said Harry Cummins, the program founder at the International Boxing Club.
The University of Toledo's occupational therapy program teamed up with Cummins to give locals like Adams hope.
"That's my job, to push them, to keep pushing them, making them better," Cummins said. "You can't feel sorry for them. And I do, in a way, in my heart. I do, but on that floor working out, they don't want me feeling sorry for them."
"They get diagnosed and this is their next step forward, to fight through it and stay healthy and delay the disease," explained UT occupational therapy student Karen Karmol.
The results are astonishing.
"I was noticing with my walk, I was shuffling, but now I have better balance," Brennan said. "I feel a lot better because I'm stronger, especially my upper body."
These fighters say they'll have the last laugh.
"If you're not laughing at yourself, you're crying, and crying doesn't help all the time," Adams said.
"You don't know what to do, you get depressed, but when you turn around and see some of these people and talk to them and listen to how they add humor to Parkinson's. It makes it a lot easier to accept," said Ed Cochrane of Lemoyne.
Learn more about the International Boxing Club by visiting their website here.
