Parkinson’s disease not deterring determined Val

Parkinson's disease not deterring determined Val

2:59pm Wednesday 10th July 2013 in News By Alexa Copeland, Reporter (Darlington)

PLUCKY pensioner Val Loughborough is not letting Parkinsons disease stop her from attempting a 179-mile coast to coast bike ride this summer.

Mrs Loughborough, of Barton, near Darlington, was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2008 and although she got the all-clear last year, she discovered after her chemotherapy course that she has Parkinsons disease.

The 69-year-old vowed not to let it hold her back and she is now in training for a bicycle ride from Walney Island, near Morcambe, to Whitby at the beginning of August.

She will be joined by her 67-year-old sister Christine Brant who is travelling across from her home in Denmark in a camper van to join Mrs Loughborough at the starting point.

The pair hope to complete the ride in three weeks and Mrs Loughborough said: I am apprehensive, but I am also determined.

The Parkinsons does make me very slow, and the chemotherapy has damaged my feet.

Training isnt going very well because since my last bike ride I have shrunk, so the bike is too big for me and I fell off, but Halfords are making me a smaller one and Im sure that will be fine.

As long as we get from A to B it doesnt matter how many times we have to stop.

See the rest here:
Parkinson's disease not deterring determined Val