Guy Deacon's African Journey - update

Parkinson's awareness campaign reaches Liberia

At the beginning of April, I told you about the remarkable retired army officer Guy Deacon who is driving from Sierra Leone to Cape Town to raise awareness of Parkinson’s. Guy, who was diagnosed with the degenerative condition 11 years ago, promised to keep us updated on his progress, and a few days ago he got in touch for a chat.

He was calling from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, a distance of 548KM (340 miles) from his starting point, Freetown in Sierra Leone. He had been there for a week, sorting out visas for some of the countries he will visit next - “one of the big challenges is not travelling, but actually getting the administration right,” he told me.

But, with another 9,000KM to go, he is not in a hurry - and he’s happy about what he has achieved already in terms of highlighting Parkinson’s Disease in Africa. He says he has realised that radio is far more important than television in Africa and has done three interviews in Sierra Leone and a couple in Liberia.

“But most importantly, I met and interviewed the chief medical officer who was really taken by the subject, and also the Deputy Minister for Information, whose mother had Parkinson's, and he was fascinated by the story.” Guy is hoping this results in a Parkinson’s Hub for Africa based in Liberia. His aim, he says, is to remove the stigma from the disease by getting a few facts out there:

“It's a straightforward neurological condition caused by alack of dopamine, there's nothing special about it. There's no magic, there's no dramas, it's straightforward medical issue. And people need to understand that they can't catch it. It's not contagious. It doesn't spread. It's a unique thing for an individual and what they need before anything else is care and understanding from those around them.”

Of course, as he travels south he has to cope with his own Parkinson’s symptoms. “We all say we have good days and bad days. But I've had some extraordinarily bad days where I can't do a thing. And I'm ending up just lying on the floor, wishing that I wasn't here….But then suddenly, the next day, I'll be absolutely fine.”

He is now heading slowly but cheerfully on the road to Cote d’Ivoire. You can follow Guy Deacon’s progress here and help fund a documentary about his journey here. And we’ll have another update from him in a few weeks.