Guy Deacon - malaria is better than Parkinson’s

A cheery message popped into my inbox the other day. Guy Deacon, the indomitable retired soldier we’ve been following on his long drive across Africa, was keen to give me another update. I knew he was in Zambia, having a short holiday with his daughter before getting back on the road, so I was expecting a lighthearted conversation about visits to tourist attractions. But when he popped up on a video call he quickly revealed he had been felled by a bout of malaria.

Guy reckons he probably contracted it somewhere in Angola or Congo: :”It came home to roost as I was flying in and I was desperately ill on the aeroplane.” When he got to his destination he had a temperature of 104 F. “Luckily the people I'm staying with knew what to do, knew the symptoms. And so very quickly, I was put right with the right drugs and after about a week I was pretty much back to normal.”

He seemed pretty sanguine about what is to most of us a pretty scary disease. But he explained that he had at first feared it was something worse - a really bad bout of his Parkinson’s symptoms signalling the next stage downhill in the progression of his condition.

“I wasn’t shivering and cold and feverish, I just was shaking and trembling a lot. And I just thought this is not good, the Parkinson’s has gone a bit haywire.” He says Zambia was a good place to have malaria because the disease is well known and understood, which is not the case with Parkinson’s: “I think there are seven neurologists in in Zambia. And they're busy doing their own thing and the drugs aren't easily available. And it would have been a spiral out of control with Parkinson’s and I would have been in real trouble.” He had feared that the rest of his drive to Cape Town could have been in danger.

Guy at Victoria Falls

As it was, he recovered quickly from his bout of malaria and could start his holiday with a visit to Victoria Falls. But he has also continued his mission to spread the word about Parkinson’s, meeting three people in various stages of the condition. One woman revealed she had never told her family or friends she had it - just as in the UK, many people feel there is a stigma around the disease: “It doesn't really help to keep it a secret, because you just don't get the help and sympathy you require.”

But in this case the woman took that message on board:”On the strength of my meeting with her, she has gone back and told her family that she’s got Parkinson's. And I'm sure it'll be a burden off her shoulders, and off the shoulders of her family as well because they will now know what is going on with her.”

As for his own Parkinson’s, Guy says being on holiday for a couple of weeks has worked wonders. As anyone with the disease knows, stress makes the symptoms a whole lot worse, and a while away from the hassle of border controls, visa problems and potholes has rejuvenated the weary traveler.

But in a week or so he’ll return to Angola and set off again in his trusty (actually scratch that, deeply treacherous) VW van and head south on the final leg of his trip. He thinks it will be comparatively plain sailing - but we know better, so stay tuned for further updates.