VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. It’s a time to learn more about the movement disorder.
This week’s Getting Results Award winner never thought she’d be in a position to impact people living with the disease but now Marianne Chapin is joining them in their fight.
“I had to really do my homework. I didn’t know anything about Parkinson’s. I didn’t know anyone with Parkinson’s,” Chapin remembered. “Now I have 300 best friends that all have Parkinson’s.”
Chapin is the Volusia County affiliate and certified coach for Rock Steady Boxing, a non-contact, boxing-based fitness program operating out of the In This Corner Gym in Edgewater and Body Exchange Boxing in Ormond Beach.
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“Magic is what happens in my gym every day,” said Chapin, as the sound of music and gloves popping echoed around the gym.
Boxers rotate through exercises that emphasize gross motor movement, balance, core strength, and rhythm. Movements that favorably impact range of motion, flexibility, posture, gait, and the activities of daily living.
“There’s a science behind everything we do,” Chapin said. “What we know is that this being a movement disorder, really the only thing we can guarantee will work is to keep moving. The more you work out, the higher the intensity of the workout, the more likely that you will be able to slow the progression.”
Catherine Ross was diagnosed in 2018. She found the program online and has been a regular here ever since. On this day she was part of the Early Bird & Fast class. She was in a rhythm punching the speed bag. “I imagine that this bag is my Parkinson’s,” Steward said. “I’m saying stay away from me.”
Members we spoke with say the gym not only helps physically, it provides a support group for everyone who is going through similar challenges.
Ross said she tried working out at a well-known large chain gym but didn’t feel comfortable.
“I can’t do what everyone else can do and it’s embarrassing. I felt like people were looking at me. They probably weren’t, but I was sensitive to that,” Ross remembered. “Here it’s the camaraderie of all our people who are here with Parkinson’s trying their best to slow it. So, some of my best friends are people with Parkinson’s who go to this gym.”
Having a Rock Steady program nearby makes it easy for Ross and Lee Stewart to attend classes. Stewart is a part-time resident and attends classes three times a week when he’s in town.
“All we can hope for is that we can hold Parkinson’s back from gaining on us,” said Stewart. " And in the three years that I’ve been coming here, I haven’t seen it gaining anything on me. So I’m winning as far as that battle goes.”
Ross and Stewart say they are grateful to Chapin for starting the program in Volusia County. “Marianne is an inspiration to all of us. She has such a big heart. She doesn’t have Parkinson’s, no one in her family does. But she’s inspired by seeing how hard people want to delay their disease.”
Chapin started the affiliate after being frustrated that there wasn’t an option for Parkinson’s patients within an hour’s drive.
“I was a rep for Hospice and part of my community outreach was to run support groups for people with Parkinson’s. In the course of doing that, I learned about the Rock Steady Boxing program but nobody in the area was doing it,” Chapin recalled. “We decided we’re going to have to bring it here because nobody’s doing it. So we did.”
Chapin says she never considered this would be her passion but now she’s hooked. “I thought this would be a side gig, but here we are almost seven years later just a little grassroots nonprofit doing big things.”
You can find Rock Steady affiliates across Central Florida from Palm Coast to Melbourne and over to Leesburg and Winter Garden. Here are the locations provided on the Rock Steady Boxing website.
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