Motivated by her father’s Parkinson’s diagnosis, Christy is embarking on a huge 1,300km bike ride along the East Coast of Australia, all the way from Melbourne to Sydney. The challenge will be tough both physically and mentally, so we took a moment to chat with Christy and hear her story.

What Drives Your Commitment to find a cure for Parkinson’s?

My dad was diagnosed just over two years ago and watching his steady decline has been heartbreaking.  As a family we knew something was wrong, but we didn’t know what.  It wasn’t until he had a freeze event that he was diagnosed and it was like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders as we now knew what we were dealing with and we had an action plan to move forward.

Why Shake It Up Australia?

I was going to do the Blackmore’s run in September last year but got injured, and Shake It Up was one of the organisations you could fundraise for and obviously with Dad’s diagnosis I was keen to raise fund for an organisation dedicated to researching a cure for Parkinson’s.  My relationship with Shake It Up grew from there.

Tell us what you are doing/did to Shake Things Up?

I am riding my bike from Melbourne to Sydney along the south east coastline of Australia (approx 1300kms) to raise awareness of Parkinson’s and funds for Shake It Up Australia.  My husband and dad are coming along as my support crew.

Greatest Reward

With all the time, energy, money and quite literally blood, sweat and tears I have poured into our fundraising campaign for the ride to Sydney my greatest reward will be the feeling of hugging my dad and husband at the finish line in Sydney.  There is so much that goes into organising and training for an event like this, and I’m definitely looking forward to some downtime post ride and looking forward to having my weekends back again without having to spend 5-6hrs on Saturday and Sunday training on my bike.

Best advice for people looking to Shake It Up?

Just get out there and have a go.  It doesn’t matter how big or small your efforts are.  Anything that helps raise funds for Shake It Up all goes into the pool to help find a cure for this debilitating disease.

Christy appeared on the podcast Exceptionally Average to talk about her Dad’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s. Christy talks about what it’s like growing up in the country with a dad who’s unwell, what inspires her to do what she does, and what motivates her to do better, and be better, every day.