While walking her dog one day in 2020, Vicky Rees-Davies’s husband pointed out that she was dragging her left foot. She played it down saying she must be tired from exercising a lot. But a few weeks later, while trying to follow a dance routine at the gym, Vicky noticed she wasn’t able to pick up the moves on her left side.
She also noticed there was no arm swing on her left side when she walked – and a Google search revealed it could be a sign of serious illness. Vicky’s fears proved right when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s – aged just 47.
Having watched both her mother and grandmother struggle with the condition, Vicky, niow 50, was familiar with the symptoms of Parkinson’s. “As a small child, my grandmother had Parkinson’s,” said Vicky, from Somerset. “The only thing I remember from that is going into a nursing home to see her and her shuffling and her hands shaking.
“My mother also had Parkinson’s, but it was in the era of having a very British stiff upper lip, so she actually didn’t tell us for 10 years. People experience Parkinson’s in very different ways, and there are over 100 different types of Parkinson’s. I think we all have the image of the elderly man, bent over, shuffling and shaking. But it’s not always the case.
“Some of the symptoms that you can get are a masked face, so you can look angry, so I thought that she was annoyed at me a lot of the time. When she began to feel that she couldn’t hide her symptoms anymore, she told us, so I’ve experienced Parkinson’s as a granddaughter and a daughter.”
The mum-of-three, who is a personal trainer, just brushed it off her signs a temporary problem
It was because of her experience with her mother and grandmother that Vicky decided to go to her GP for a series of tests. A letter through the post a few months later revealed that Vicky did indeed have Parkinson’s too. Despite the shock of reading the letter, Vicky resolved to find the positive in the diagnosis.
“I’m really upbeat and positive, and always think about how lucky I am,” she explains. “But when you get that letter through the post with the diagnosis, when you turn over the paper, there is no mention of any support groups or anything. I thought it was awful that there was nothing on the letter because there are so many support groups and so many amazing people out there that can help.”
Vicky couldn’t stop thinking about all the people who must be struggling after receiving a similar diagnosis, and resolved to help them. “Everyone has stuff going on,” she explains. “I thought ‘it is what it is, so let’s just try and make the best of it’. I got in touch with various charities, joined some support groups, and started interviewing people with Parkinson’s to find out about it.
“I did lots of research and found out that exercise is the best thing for Parkinson’s.”
With research showing that regular exercise can help manage Parkinson’s symptoms, Vicky decided to channel her experience as a personal trainer into helping others struggling with the disease. She began to run regular exercise classes for people with Parkinson’s, did a sponsored skydive to raise money for Parkinson’s UK, and has signed up for the marathon this year.
“As a fitness instructor, I was thinking, ‘does this mean I’ll have to give up my job?’” Vicky explains. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m not going to give it up until I can’t do it, and my medication helps me do it’. The thing with Parkinson’s is your balance can go and obviously, as we age we can be prone to osteoporosis.
“We really need strength in our muscles to protect our bones, because if our balance is bad, then falling can become a big issue. But if we can build up strength around our muscles, then if we do fall, we’re less likely to fracture or break bones.
Vicky, now 50, was diagnosed with the progressive neurological disease in 2021.
“A lot of my classes are focused around strength, and I did a series of strength classes including kettlebell and dumbbells for Parkinson’s UK. I now run weekly exercise classes for those struggling with Parkinson’s, as well as one-to-one personal training sessions. Exercise gives us those happy endorphins, and it can really help with Parkinson’s. It’s so important.
“There are lots of people that do exercise classes for people with Parkinson’s, which is amazing, and I’m not taking anything away from that, but sometimes it’s quite nice for people if it’s led by someone who actually has Parkinson’s and therefore can understand a little bit about how they might be feeling or what they’re going through.
“I just want to sort of help in any way I can, and I know how good it makes me feel once I’ve exercised, so I want others to feel that good too.”
Vicky says that despite the life-altering diagnosis, she wants to raise awareness that Parkinson’s is not a death sentence – and says she’s actually happy to have the disease. “I want to help those with the diagnosis, and to show them that they’re not alone, that that it’s okay, and that you still have your whole life ahead of you,” she adds. “You’re not going to die tomorrow. There might be a cure in the future. We just don’t know.
Vicky and her family
“I want to help people understand the little things that they can do to help them through every day and then build from there. It’s not nice, of course, and there are some horrible things that go along with it, but, you can still have a happy life. There are so many things you can do, and hopefully by me running the marathon, it can show people that anything is possible.
“In a way, I’m pleased I’ve got it. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it really makes you look at life differently and really appreciate it, and make sure you have your priorities right.”
Follow Vicky on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the_fitness_mum