Parky Profile: Dave Clark

"People sit in a chair and think life's over - but it doesn't have to be that way."

Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s a little over five years ago I have discovered at least one positive thing about being part of this fast-growing club - it’s introduced me to a community of energetic, imaginative and downright lovely people. We have interviewed seven of them in the mini-series of Parky Profiles for the Movers and Shakers podcast - and the final one certainly fits the bill.

Dave Clark was the face of darts for Sky TV for many years, where he also presented boxing. He carried on in his high pressure role on screen for more than a decade after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and has also been an indefatigable fundraiser, raising more than half a million pounds for Parkinson’s charities.

Dave Clark - presenting with Parkinson’s

But first of all we want to hear how he came to surf the wave of darts’ huge popularity. He had been working in fairly junior roles at Sky Sports News when his bosses decided they needed someone to cover what was still quite a fringe sport, derided by some as a pub game.

“They said they needed someone who you could have a pint with. And I was the man, so I ended up doing the darts.” Over the course of his career, the venues where he presented darts told their own story:

“We started in a strip club on the A13 called the circus tavern - we went from there to the 02.”

But in 2011, aged 44, a few things began to worry him. “I noticed my writing was getting smaller when I was writing my notes. I walked past the shop and I noticed my right arm wasn't swinging, and I found I had a  pain in my shoulder as well.”

He thought he knew what was wrong: “My dad had Parkinson's, and it didn't end well for him. He killed himself when I was 17.”

The diagnosis was confirmed in a fairly matter of fact way by a neurologist who first asked him whether he had children and a mortgage. He had both, and despite vowing he would be very different from his father, who had never talked to him about his diagnosis, he kept his Parkinson’s secret from everyone but his immediate family for two and a half years.

“I thought I'd be labeled disabled, and I thought it would change the way people thought about me,” he says. He remembers covering a boxing world title fight in the days when he had not gone public about his condition: “I was trying to get my tie done up, my cufflinks on., I was hiding a cupboard in this arena in Glasgow.” The production team was getting edgy:”’Clarky, where are you? Time's ticking on, you know.’ We were on air at seven o'clock, and it was about quarter to..”

He was sneaking off to take his medication, trying to time it so that he would be on form just as he went on air. Eventually his wife told him this was crazy - he needed to tell people about his Parkinson’s.

And, like many of us, he found that going public - in Dave’s case via an article in the Daily Mail - was a hugely positive experience. “I had over 6,500 messages of support, it was just incredible, like a huge weight off my shoulders. Best thing I've ever done.”

And Sky turned out to be a very supportive employer. Dave stayed on air for another ten years, finally calling it a day on his own terms.

But he still doesn’t underestimate just how big a challenge it is for someone with Parkinson’s to go public about it, whatever their circumstances: “Everyone I spoke to, it was like they were mourning on my behalf. So it's really hard when you’re diagnosed and then really hard again when you go public.”

Jeremy Paxman chips in with a comment which may surprise those who only know him as the Grand Inquisitor: “The thing that you forget is that most people are nice and most people are kind, tolerant and want to take your side.”

Dave has flung himself into fundraising for Parkinson’s charities, including the epic coast to coast walk which raised £200,000. “192 miles in 12 days,” he says proudly. “You have to climb twice the height of Everest, because you go right across the Dales, right across the Lake District.” He has also launched, with his friend Kuhan, a podcast, 2 Parkies in A Pod, which he tells us with a smile was the first Parkinson’s podcast to be launched in the UK.

He doesn’t sugar coat the experience of living with Parkinson’s - it’s getting harder for him to walk, and he’s disturbed by his latest symptom, facial masking, which makes it hard to smile without looking sinister.

But Dave Clark has a simple philosophy - just get on with living: “Get up, have a shave, make your bed, get ready for the day. When you say you're going to go somewhere, go somewhere…You get diagnosed and people sit in a chair and think life's over - it was for my dad. But it doesn't have to be that way. “

Thank you, Dave, for sending Movers and Shakers away for the summer with such a positive message, We will be back in early September with a new series - and with some news about our Parky Charter. Join us then.