In 2017 Ian Perry, 65, from Formby, started experiencing the first symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. While working here at The Walton Centre, he was fixing the heating in the Outpatients department when one of the hospital’s clinicians recommended they seek a referral from their GP. Weeks later a diagnosis was confirmed.
Ian said: “I felt lucky that someone noticed and recommended a referral, but also the shock of getting the diagnosis was hard to experience. Dr Steiger, neurologist, encouraged me to keep being physically active, as this can help with symptoms. I was going to the gym and took up golf, but some of the effects of the condition, like slurred speech and the tremors, can really knock your confidence. It wasn’t until 2021 that I considered walking football.”
Ian’s friends had seen the Parkinson’s England football team was having a training session and encouraged him to go along. Ian continued: “It was the first time in four years I had met other people with Parkinson’s Disease. It was such a relief to see others there to play football. My wife said I came back a different person. After that I knew I had to get more involved.”
Ian joined the Northern Lights football team, which consists of people with Parkinson’s Disease, and takes part in walking football matches across the country. He said: “While I was playing for the team, I took part in trials to play for the England team and I got in! It feels like I’m living the dream, the camaraderie is great, and at the end of last year I played in my first international match in Belfast. We played against able-bodied people and they didn’t even know we had the condition, that’s how liberating the sport is.
“You can achieve so much, even if you have Parkinson’s Disease. You forget you have it when you’re on the pitch, you just play the game.”
For more information on The Walton Centre, go to www.thewaltoncentre.nhs.uk
And for the latest news and events on the Northern Lights group, go to their twitter page www.twitter.com/NLPDfootball
Author: The Walking Football
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