Towne Salute Meet

TOWNE SALUTE

David Fletcher

Parkinson’s Foundation

By Tom Worgo

For Parkinson’s disease patients, David Fletcher serves as both a physical therapist and coach. Fletcher works with about 15 clients a week and offers additional support through the club Rock Steady Boxing Annapolis to some of them. The club utilizes a proven form of exercise method designed for those whose physical capacities have diminished by Parkinson’s. “It’s really a class to get these people to improve their quality of life,” says Fletcher, an Annapolis resident. The 52-year-old Fletcher motivates members to participate in a key fundraiser for the Parkinson’s Foundation Mid-Atlantic Chapter: Moving Day. The event is a national walk in 45 cities that brings together people with Parkinson’s, along with their loved ones and care partners.

His efforts have been fruitful for the foundation, raising nearly $15,000 over the past three years. Parkinson’s Foundation Mid-Atlantic Chapter Development Manager Dawn Lewis says these funds are crucial to the nonprofit’s educational goals.

“He is our top fundraiser in Anne Arundel County,” Lewis explains. “I have felt a lot of energy from him in his desire to be able to provide services and let people know about the publications and resources that the foundation has available. We are able to give them at no cost because of the fundraising.”

These publications include booklets that address various topics related to the individual with Parkinson’s, such as fitness, early cognition, dealing with stress, and nutrition. One of the most important things is a hospitalization kit the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Parkinson’s Foundation provides.

“It’s a kit that people will take with them when they are going to the hospital so that the medical (staff) is immediately attuned to the fact that they need to get their medication or it will cause episodes,” Lewis says. “It has all the information they need.”

Lewis and Fletcher spoke enthusiastically about the 2021 Moving Day in May, especially since last year’s gathering was all virtual. Once again, the event was in Washington, D.C. It was scaled back from 2019, when participants walked around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Fletcher, who is captain of the Rock Steady Boxing Annapolis team, which took part in this year’s event, at The Wharf restaurant in Southwest D.C, with about 10 other members, hopes to have raised more than his group did in 2020, when they brought in about $9,000 in donations.

Fletcher decided to dedicate himself to Parkinson’s

I HAVE FELT A LOT OF ENERGY FROM HIM IN HIS DESIRE TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE SERVICES AND LET PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES THAT THE FOUNDATION HAS AVAILABLE.”

patients as part of his practice because his stepfather, William McSweeney, had suffered from the illness. He became a full-time physical therapist in 1999 and started seeing people with Parkinson’s two years later.

“He had Parkinson’s and it started in his early 40s,” he says. “I saw his decline. He wasn’t doing anything. Back then, I wasn’t thinking about it. I was in physical therapy school at the time.”

Lewis holds Fletcher in such high esteem for his dedication. “I’ve been so impressed with him, with the time he takes with people with Parkinson’s,” she says. “Every support group that I’ve gone to in Anne Arundel County and Bowie, when his name comes up, they always talk about how much of a difference he’s made in their lives. If they weren’t exercising, he would spend extra time with them to help get to where they needed to be to have a better life and mental attitude.”

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