'10 Mountains 10 Years' - Official Movie Trailer 2010 [HD]

What Does it Take to Cure Parkinson's

My wife and I were out on our evening walk (move to live). About half way home we noticed a small dog up ahead running and barking at people in the school parking lot. You could tell he was all bark and no bite. Across the street I also noticed a young man with a blanket in his hand. The dog must have escaped the house and I guess the plan was to throw the blanket on the dog and capture it. I thought to myself.....really, that's your plan. It seemed futile and ill conceived, but what the heck, I was on board if it actually worked. It would give me something to write about in this blog.


Well, let me tell you, this plan had all the success of the coyote strapping a rocket on his back and catching the roadrunner. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure the blanket had the word ACME on it. He was a little dog and he was fast like the kid in gym class who out ran everyone and looked back to see how far ahead he was. The problem was he started running into the street, not good. What if a car hit him? I could not live with that so my wife and I were in the hunt.

The young man said his dog's name was Neeko and I thought, "You should name him Nike the way he was running circles around us." He handed us a treat and asked us to give it to Neeko while he threw the blanket on the dog. I tried to feign hopeful with the new element of the dog treat, but knew better. It was all we had though. Surprise! Total failure and with a snack in him he had extra fuel. Off he went, running down to the corner. When the young man's sister pulled up in her car to lend assistance, I thought dogs love car rides. Great, this should work. Another bad idea. You would think we worked for BP the way our plans to solve this problem were going. Neeko was down the main drag and off the side streets into more traffic. I was starting to worry as cars had to break to avoid hitting him. My wife had her jacket off and threw it at him. I'm not sure what this was going to do. Maybe his little legs were going to go in the sleeves, the hood flip on his head, and then Bam! we'd have him.

Now at this point you must be wondering what does this have to do with PD or any problem. I'm getting there.

I wish I had a video camera to see my wife trying to run after that dog with her hoody, the kid with his blanket, me with PD, and the sister with the pursuit vehicle. Too funny! The four of us can't grab him so what do we need, more people. A guy walking his dog has joined the great hunt to capture the elusive Neeko. I remember the guy saying, "You know you are never going to get him with that blanket." Thank you, Mister Obvious. We are up to six people and apparently not faster or smarter than a 5 lbs. dog. Down the street we all go with that little dog kicking our....You know what, we need more help. We saw a group of small children just ahead of us playing with their new puppy. Okay, that's ten of us, score - humans 0, Neeko 10. The kids had the only thing that Neeko the dog was interested in, the puppy. We had the bait and now we just needed a trap. As always, there is a fly in the ointment. One of the kids in the group started to throw things at Neeko and chase him into the street, all the while laughing his head off. I'm not saying I believe in demonic possession, but I swear his head spun all the way around during his tirade. Fortunately, one of the kids stopped him. I believe he will grow up to be a Jesuit priest the way he stopped that demon child.

We were back in business. I noticed that the kids had a fenced in yard. Immediately I had a plan. Put the puppy in the yard, keep Captain Chaos under control, and block the holes in the fence. Neeko fell for it. He went into the yard after the puppy, we closed the gate, and the owner walked into the yard. Neeko was beat. He laid down and showed his belly. We had him safe and sound. Neeko's owner told us that Neeko was a rescue dog. He was a pure bred dog that had a flaw because he was born with an extra toe on one paw, not saleable, just expendable, off to the pound.

What did I take from all this? On the road of life when you have problems, it takes lots of people to solve them and you never know how or why people come to your aid, but they do. With all their help and a good plan, you can reach a goal no matter how elusive it may seem. There is always someone with an agenda who tries to detour the group's effort, like that little kid, but we must stay the course. It will take the team working together to beat PD. With the help of others who join our cause along the way, it will happen. Stay positive, do what you can to help like play in a charity golf tournament (shameless plug) like mine in the fall. Keep moving Parky Warriors!

I'm Pat Younts and I move to live.

Parkinson's Challange Update

Just got back from a wonderful 30th wedding anniversary in Atlantic City. As those of you who have kept up with my blog know, I had three challenges for the summer. I wanted to get my bench press back up to 250 lbs before we left July 12 and I’m happy to say that goal was met. Thanks to Big Mike for letting me work out with him. Mike spotted me and kept me motivated by also trying to hit the same goal of 250 lbs, which he also did. This was challenging for Mike, too. At a height of 6'7”, he has a long way to push that bar up. Mike has his own neurological difficulty after suffering a broken neck in the line of duty as a police officer. Great job, big guy!!

I haven’t met my body weight goal yet, but I have lost 10 lbs, bringing my body weight down to 184 lbs. I should have calculated adding extra muscle mass which I have done. I still need to drop 10 more to get abs.

As for my golf game, we have played best ball the last three outings so I am not sure what my individual score is, but I can tell you I am hitting longer and straighter with my driver than ever.

My balance and big motor skills are doing great even with PD, but I am working very hard to keep them going. Remember by giving yourself goals to achieve, you keep the mindset of improving in the future instead of the mindset that things are diminishing. This will help maintain a positive attitude and a better quality of life.

I am Pat Younts and I move to live.

Parkinson's and the People Who Take Care of Us

I am just a few days away from my 30th wedding anniversary. I have said many times to many different people that I have had the rare opportunity to have married one of the greatest women who has ever lived. No one could have done better than Darla. I know there are women of equal beauty and character as my wife, but no one better. I am in a rare category of men who can say this and to all of you who also have that rare privilege of a long marriage to your perfect mate, congratulations. You have something that money and power simply cannot obtain, true unconditional love. I know this because over the last thirty years every one of our wedding vows has been tested, and now we are challenged with the hardest of all the vows, "in sickness".  It is not fair that after all Darla has done for me her reward for all her years of love and loyalty is a husband with Parkinson's. Yet here we are, and as always without even a pause she is taking care of me, supporting me every step of the way. I just want everyone who reads this blog to know how much I love my wife. I work out almost every day, I started this blog, I am hosting a golf tournament to raise money for PD research, and will do everything I can to find a cure and keep myself as healthy as I  can because I  owe it to my wife. All of us who have spouses that have given so much over the years owe it to our spouses to do all we can to make life easier for them. On behalf of all of us Parkies, I would like to say to all the wives and husbands who honor the hardest vow of all, thank you. We love all so of you much!

Happy anniversary, baby.

I'm Pat Younts and I move to live.