Guy's African Journey - Crisis Point

Parkinson's fundraiser hits bumps in the road

“A complete crisis, a ‘what happens now’ moment” - that was how Guy Deacon described his mood to me a few days ago when he called with his latest update on his African journey. The retired army officer has reached Lagos in Nigeria on his mission to drive to Cape Town to raise awareness of Parkinson’s but the going has been tough.

A combination of mechanical mishaps and the strain of driving solo with a debilitating condition has brought home to Guy the scale of the challenge he’s taken on.

Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro,

When we last spoke he was in Liberia, preparing with some enthusiasm to head to Cote d’Ivoire. He drove first to Yamoussoukro to see the world’s biggest church, the extraordinary Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. But on the road from there down to the business capital Abidjan disaster struck;”Suddenly my clutch went, and I've put my foot down to the floor and I wasn't going anywhere at all.” Crowds gathered, and he realised he was in what he describes as “an awkward part of town.”

Luckily, a French family he’d met at a hotel the night before stopped by and helped him out. But it turned out there were no Volkswagen parts to be had in Abidjan - “a lesson I’ve learned is don’t buy anything but a Toyota in Africa”. Eventually, a friend flew out with a new VW clutch, but Guy ended up spending over three weeks in Cote d’Ivoire.

He used his time wisely, getting his message about removing the stigma from Parkinson’s out on local media. Notably, he appeared on Cote d’Ivoire’s top lunchtime TV show C’Midi, which gets a huge audience: “It was all in French - and my French isn't very good - and 45 minutes of the hour long programme were dedicated to Parkinson's in the Ivory Coast. And it was amazing.”

Guy Deacon on TV in Ghana

Eventually, he travelled on to Ghana and then Togo and Benin, with more media appearances along the way and more encounters with people who had heard of him and his mission. that's why I'm doing this thing. I'm not doing it for fun, I’m doing it to appear and make the conversation [about Parkinson’s] last as long as I can.”

He’s had more mishaps along the way and is beginning to wonder whether he can continue to drive solo. Luckily, the small TV team making a documentary about the journey joins him from time to time, and one of them can take the wheel.

But when I ask him how his health has been, he says “not good.” Parkinson’s is a condition that responds badly to stress - my tremor really kicks in when I’m watching Brentford, and Guy has put himself in far more stressful situations:"You get into a downward spiral very quickly. And then the Parkinson's grabs hold of you even more quickly, and you simply can't do anything. You can't make a sensible decision, you can't move, you can't turn around to talk, all the things that are dreadful become more dreadful.”

He is now resting up in Lagos at the home of one of the many people who have offered help along the way. Soon, he will set off again on the long road to Cape Town, knowing that there is still 7,000 km - about 4,300 miles - to go. His hope is that the film crew will spend more time with him, so that he’s not driving solo but that will mean raising more money - if you want to help, here’s the Indiegogo page about the documentary.

Meeting a fellow Parkinson’s patient

It feels as though Guy Deacon has only got to base camp in his mission to climb his personal Everest, and the long climb to the summit looks very daunting. But the indomitable colonel is determined to complete his mission:

“I'm doing it for everybody who's got Parkinson's because they want people to know what it's like. And by going through a bit of pain myself, and having a bit of a difficult time myself, I can't help but expose what it's really like to have this wretched thing.”

If you want to follow Guy’s progress you can do so here. I hope to have another update from him in late July.