Health & Lifestyle | Posted on April 10th, 2024 | return to news
Parkinson’s sufferer drives 18,000 miles from his home in Dorset
Guy Deacon took a year to drive across some of the toughest terrain on the planet to prove Parkinson’s disease hasn’t beaten him.
Guy Deacon is an inspiration to those suffering from Parkinson’s disease as he travelled from his home in Dorset to cross some of the toughest terrain on the planet.
His year-long journey included driving across the Sahara Desert in Morocco, Western Sahara, and Mauretania, across the Sahel in Mauretania and Senegal, and across Namibia’s Namib Desert, which has some of the world’s highest sand dunes.
As well as desert and mountain passes, Guy also tackled some of Africa’s trickiest jungles travelling through the Guinea forests of West Africa in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the mighty Congo rainforest, when driving through Cameroon, Guinea and Gabon.
This hugely tricky terrain took its toll on Guy’s VW Transporter, with him breaking down on numerous occasions in the middle of nowhere, from getting stuck in the mud in waterlogged jungle tracks, to losing the suspension and clutch several times and having to get parts flown out to Africa specially. Add illegal checkpoints, extortion, contaminated fuel and lack of services and this was a huge undertaking.
As a sufferer from Parkinson’s disease – the fastest-growing neurodegenerative illness worldwide with no known cause or cure – Guy had very little use of his hands, difficulty moving his limbs and poor spatial awareness.
He often had to stop to sleep, or appeared drunk with slurred speech when his medication ran out.
Guy wanted to show that life doesn’t have to end with a Parkinson’s diagnosis and that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
His 18,000-mile journey was not without its hazards. Guy crossed 25 borders, with five breakdowns, as well as one emergency evacuation from Sierra Leone, whilst taking 3,650 prescription pills to help manage his Parkinson’s. Add illegal checkpoints, extortion, contaminated fuel and lack of services and this was a huge undertaking.
Guy’s incredible journey is published in the book ‘Running on Empty’, and there will be a C4 documentary following later this year.
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