- Cancelled -

Guy Deacon’s first experience of travelling overseas as a young man was in 1980 when he visited the West Coast of America spending five months between Vancouver Island in Canada and Baja California as a 19-year-old, it was an experience he never forgot, seeing many of the sites that people only dream about. Since then he has travelled around the world but is returning to North America to continue his mission to highlight all aspects of Parkinson’s disease.

This time he will be travelling with a colleague from the US Marine Corps who he served with Afghanistan in 2005 but his mission is different. 

He aims to meet as many people with Parkinson’s disease as possible and to tell them the story of those people in Africa who also share the disease and don’t have the benefits that people in the United States and Europe have. There is a temptation to take the medical support we receive in the West for granted. By drawing attention to those people in other places, notably Africa, it will remind us all how lucky we are to have access to neurologists, medication, physiotherapists, and understanding, and it will hopefully gain support for his charity the Deacon Foundation which aims to support those people who are doing so much to destigmatise the disease in Africa with so little.

The journey Is still in its development stage but will start in St Louis Missouri and head up to Chicago, meeting people with Parkinson’s and support groups and tell them of the journey he  recently made through Africa. And  he will be drawing comparisons between the treatment of the disease in North America and places like Africa.  He also plans to meet health professionals who can discuss the advances being made in the treatment of Parkinson’s which will be a particular interest to him as his condition gets worse, but of interest to everybody who has a deteriorating condition such as this.

The route Is yet to be determined but is likely to follow the back roads through the north-western states from Chicago to Seattle. He has teamed up with the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA) so he can meet people on the way and talk to them and hear their stories, and be giving about one or two talks to groups each week of his visit. It will take him through the interesting less known parts of North America and the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains and ultimately to Seattle.

 The route

The route is yet to be determined, but will go via locations where there are groups of people with Parkinson’s disease to meet and discuss the condition with.

 The journey 

Guy will be travelling with his old friend Ken Lissner who he met in Afghanistan in 2005. Ken is an experienced traveller in North America and invited Guy sometime ago to join him on a trip. they will be travelling in his jeep Mojave using the back roads of the United States rather than the Interstate highways. Guy is due to arrive in St. Louis on the 13th of August and will remain with Ken until 10th October.

 Funding

The Deacon Foundation will not be paying for the journey. Guy will be doing that. He will be seeking corporate sponsorship, so if anybody has any ideas, please let him know.  However, if anybody wishes to contribute towards the cost or has anybody in mind who can help facilitate the journey or perhaps offer accommodation along the way, oranything that helps reduce the cost would be much appreciated.  The link below will take you to a site where you can contribute if you wish. Thank you in anticipation!

 Publicity

Along the way guy will be recording his journey on Polarsteps as normal and probably doing a weekly podcast. The links will follow. He intends to appear on local radio and local television stations as he makes his journey so that he can get to meet as many people as possible on the way and spread the word as far as he can.

If you felt so inclined, you can contribute through this link to help fund the journey across the United States. Anything, however small is much appreciated.