SWAMPSCOTT — Parkinson’s disease has no set pattern. There are no classic symptoms — nothing that jumps out at you that would be immediately identifiable.
“It presents itself differently in patients,” says Anna Wistran Wolfe, who is the impetus behind Sunday’s Fox Trot run/walk fundraiser for Parkinson’s disease along the Lynn/Swampscott boulevard. Wolfe’s father, cardiologist Dr. Daniel Wistran, was diagnosed with it 20 years ago.
“Everyone thinks tremors,” said Linda Hall of Salem, whose husband, Keith, has lived with the disease for 11 years. “Sometimes it’s slowness. You just move slower.”
Hall, who was an airline pilot for Delta, found out he had Parkinson’s after his primary care physician sent him to Boston for tests, suspecting he might have it.
“There are no tests,” Linda Hall said. “It’s all in what they see. They did little things, but it didn’t take them long to determine he had it.”
Dr. Wistran, who is 71, was always very strong and active (as was Hall, whose wife called him a “gym rat.”)
“But he didn’t look right,” said Wolfe. “He didn’t feel well. I don’t know what eventually got him (to his doctor), because he never had tremors or anything like that.
“He always mumbled his speech, and he always had bad handwriting, which is what doctors are known for, but the mumbling got worse.”
Both Wolfe, as a daughter, and Linda Hall, as a spouse, knew they couldn’t sit still as their family members wrestled with the ramifications of Parkinson’s. Neither Wistran nor Hall has slowed down to the point where they can’t function or do the things they like to do, but over time, the progressive disease does take its toll.
“We are fortunate that in our case, the progression has been slow,” Wolfe said. “(Wistran) was a runner, a skier, worked around the house.
“(The diagnosis) happened at the height of his career. Now, at 71, he’s still very strong and very active. I’d say in his case what affects him more is the depression you get from having the disease.”
In Hall’s case, “he takes medication that helps control the rigidity that affects the muscles,” his wife said.
Both say being active helps cope with the disease.
“They used to tell you not to move, because of the balance issues Parkinson’s creates,” said Hall. “But now, they’ve realized you have to move.”
Hall, who retired pre-diagnosis, and his wife love to travel and have been to Europe to visit World War II memorials. They plan to do more of that, and Hall has withstood the rigors of it.
Both Hall and Wolfe used the opportunity of seeing their family members diagnosed with Parkinson’s. The Halls founded Parkinson’s Fitness, an ability-based arts and movement program that offers classes in various North Shore locations. It is designed to help participants stay active and combat the challenge of slowness, stiffness, irregular gait and vocal changes.
In Wolfe’s case, she and her mother, Julia, and siblings, Jessica and Nathan, poured their energies into fundraising. And that’s how Sunday’s run/walk event came about.
“I found walks to do,” she said. “I flew to Baltimore to run the half-marathon for Parkinson’s research. I ran, my sister walked. The key is to fund research.
“The first year we raised $20,000, the second year $30,000.”
But Wolfe wanted to start something up in this area and 10 years ago, the North Shore Walk for Parkinson’s began. Its starting point is the First Church Congregation of Monument Avenue and it goes along the boardwalk to Nahant Circle and back — a 3-mile walk. There is also a 5-mile run that has been added. All proceeds went to the Michael J. Fox Foundation (Fox, an actor, suffers from Parkinson’s).
After 10 years, however, Wolfe was starting to feel as if she needed help.
“I’d been doing all of this, and it’s a big event,” she said. “At the time, the Fox Foundation was organizing the Fox Trot, and looking for local communities. They took over the North Shore walk as their Boston site.”
Wolfe said the boulevard is a good venue because it’s flat, which helps those with Parkinson’s — such as both Hall and Wistran — who will be among the walkers.
Registration is at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. The race begins at 11. There will be food trucks, a band, and refreshments donated by Bent Water Brewing, Wolfe said.
