Mayor Mark Myers Battles Parkinson’s Through Boxing & Community Support
“I’m not one to take anything lying down,” Myers says. “I look at this as a bump in life. I’m going to attack it head-on and keep going.”
heard about Rock Steady Boxing (RSB), an Indianapolis-based nonprofit gym with a mission to empower people with Parkinson’s disease. According to Juli Krizan, certified RSB coach, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation estimates that 1 million people in the United States suffer from Parkinson’s disease, and more than 60,000 people are diagnosed annually. Research has found, however, that forced, intense exercise slows the progression of Parkinson’s. Therefore, a non-contact boxing-based fitness curriculum improves a patient’s quality of life.
Myers immediately began charting a course towards better health. He had
Myers’ best friend of 35 years offered to regularly work out with him so the two
Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing Photography Provided
After two long hours of testing, Myers was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
A couple of years ago, when City of Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers was having issues with nerves in his neck, he underwent surgery to have four titanium implants put in. For a time, he seemed to improve, but then he began noticing numbness and tingling in his left hand, as well as some involuntary twitching in his left arm.
“Initially, it was a pretty big shock,” says Myers, who admits that he had a nagging fear looming in the back of his mind that Parkinson’s might be the culprit. But right from the get-go, he chose to respond to his situation with optimism.
“We thought it was related to the surgery so we didn’t think much of it,” Myers says. In October 2019, on his chiropractor’s recommendation, Myers saw a neurologist who specializes in involuntary tremors.
18 / CENTER GROVE MAGAZINE / MARCH 2020 / atCenterGrove.com
