2 months ago, we featured Annie who was planning to walk 20km for her Dad who has Parkinson’s. Together with her friends and family, Annie completed the walk last week and raised $8,704 for Shake It Up to speed up a cure for Parkinson’s. What an incredible achievement! We chatted with Annie about how the walk and fundraising went.

What drives your commitment to a cure for Parkinson’s?

The main commitment drive to finding a cure for Parkinsons for me is my Dad. Back in 2018 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and I was clueless as to what it was and how it will affect him. Since then I’ve done research and was stunned to see how prevalent it is worldwide yet how little talk there is regarding it. I was oblivious to the disease until Dad was diagnosed so mainly wish to raise awareness and hopefully in future we can find a cure.

What was the highlight of the walk?

The highlights of the walk was most certainly the beginning and the end. At the start, Dad gave us an overview of Parkinsons, what it is, how it affects him and what the symptoms are. It’s always fascinating to learn about and I know the girls were incredibly interested. Another highlight was at the end, finally finishing that 20 km in the pouring rain!

Any challenges?

The main challenge was the rain, it started pouring down around the 10km Mark but luckily we all made it laughable and kept going!

How did you find the experience of fundraising?

Overall I’ve loved organising this fundraiser. Although it’s amazing to raise this immense amount of funds, it’s more important to me to raise awareness. So many friends and family contacted me advising they had relatives in the same position, showing it’s so much more prevalent than we realise. I can’t wait to do another one and continuously raise awareness surrounding Parkinson’s Disease.

As we navigate 2021 together, Shake It Up would like to thank our supporters who have been so integral to our success in 2020.

Help us take on 2021 together: spread awareness about Parkinson’s disease with your community and get involved with fundraising for research towards a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Find out more today about how you can help by contacting our Community Fundraising and Events Manager, Isobel or see more information on ways to get involved on our website.