Our hero this week is Steve, who is participating in our Bay of Fires trek for Parkinson’s in beautiful Tasmania.
The Bay of Fires trek is now fully booked with all places secured. We’ll be introducing more of our trekkers to you over the next few months as they start fundraising and preparations for the trek next year.
Steve has started fundraising and has already raised over $11,000 from his very generous friends and family. We spoke to Steve about what drives his commitment to Parkinson’s and what he’s looking forward to most about the trip.
What drives your commitment to a cure for Parkinson’s?
My commitment comes from my own diagnosis 5 years ago and having first-hand experience of the progressive nature of the disease. My desire is to help raise funds for research,
and what I like about Shake It Up is that they are 100% focused on research, so we know the funds will are put to good work.
Why the Bay of Fires trek?
I had been looking at a couple of walks over the past years and COVID squashed a lot of these, but the Bay of Fires looks like something I can do – it has some tricky parts but it’s a beautiful part of Australia and given the COVID uncertainty I still felt it was manageable and would go ahead.
How will you be fundraising?
So the idea of my fundraising was to tap into my network through the UK, Asia and Australia and sharing with them something personal about what I’ve been experiencing. I’ve been incentivising donations through gifting a limited print run on some of my paintings. It’s proved to be quite successful so far and most of the limited edition has been filled up. I had started with the initial goal of $3k then upped it to $7k but now it’s at $11k and I’ve decided to take my foot of the gas for the moment.
What are you looking forward to most about the trek?
The scenery has got to be a big part of it and a chance to have a goal & test myself. Doing it with a group of people I haven’t met before, but who are all attached to Parkinson’s in some way is a bonus.
Although the Bay of Fires trek is fully booked, you can still make a difference for people with Parkinson’s. Challenge yourself for Parkinson’s by taking on a running, walking or other physical challenge and getting your friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you. 100% of the funds you raise will go to Parkinson’s research. Find out more today.
