Boxing on against isolation
Parkinson’s put them on the ropes, but they are bouncing back. Tim O’Connell meets a group of hard hitters.
Bruce Eden grimaces as he slides out from behind the wheel of his four-wheel-drive.
Where he once bounded out of the vehicle, it now takes a minute to get himself organised and standing up.
Until his mid-30s, Eden lived a busy life as a commercial fisherman, panelbeater and truck driver. Then he developed multiple sclerosis.
‘‘MS sort of shut my life down. I used to be one of those great outdoors wankers, shooting deer and all that, so it’s been pretty hard to adjust to a new life.’’
His tall, imposing figure is the first to cast a shadow at the Victory Boxing gym on Thursdays, propped up with a walking stick and a few cheeky verbal jabs for his trainers.
Inside the gym, Eden puts everything into his workout, despite limited movement on the left side of his body. Occasionally, he slips. Fortunately, he has support on hand to spot for him.
His health has taken a hit, but thanks to regular boxing training, Eden and a group of Nelson sufferers of Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative conditions are taking back the later rounds of life.
Each week, Victory Boxing welcomes around eight keen hitters to its Thursday morning classes.
Parkinson’s affects about 1 per cent of the over-60 population – about one in 500 people – causing deterioration of motor skills, balance, speech and sensory function.
Victory Boxing’s Paul Hampton says the programme started 18 months ago, following an inquiry from a man wanting to do something for his recently diagnosed wife. ‘‘She’d tried a few [things]. She was keen to keep moving and keep fighting from where she found herself.’’
Around that time, Hampton been in contact with a researcher at the University of Indianapolis, who had looked at the benefit of boxing for Parkinson’s sufferers. He had also discovered a United States-based programme that put those benefits into practice.
Through these connections and some of his own research, Hampton was able to create a programme of his own. ‘‘We started with one or two just to see how it went first, and it slowly grew.’’
Music provides a bit of drive for the group. Today, the consensus is Bob Dylan, with a playlist that provides equal parts inspiration and irony – Knocking on Heaven’s Door, the boxing-themed ballad Hurricane, and Like a Rolling Stone. The latter’s lyrics are particularly poignant: ‘‘How does it feel/To be on your own?’’
For at least an hour each week, the group are anything but alone.
Hampton says the social benefits of the programme complement the physical benefits, offering support on the good and bad days.
‘‘The major reason why these guys come in is that it gives them a place of belonging. With anything, as your health declines a bit or any issues you have, you can get quite isolated, and also depression can come into the equation. So that social part is healthy for them, too.
‘‘We really have massive respect for these guys – it’s really humbling working with them.’’
Bob Lynch has been a regular since the first class. Diagnosed around 15 years ago, he credits exercise and ‘‘a bit of luck’’ for keeping him in reasonable condition.
Now 70, Lynch said the nature of Parkinson’s gave him a small window of opportunity to engage in everyday activities.
Despite his MS diagnosis, Eden’s attitude to life remains as strong as his right hook.
‘‘You’ve just got to be smarter in what you do – that’s why coming along to these things is great,’’ he says. ‘‘It gives you the motivation to get up in the morning . . . the exercise is just a bonus.’’
He keeps busy by attending other regular MS catch-ups and exercise sessions. In November, he is booked on a Spirit of Adventure Voyage between Auckland and Tauranga. ‘‘There’s a lot of people worse off than what I am – I’ve just got to put the effort in.’’
Parkinson’s NZ community educator for Nelson, Claire Fisher, has around 110 people on her books, who she tries to see inside her allocated 12 hours a week.
‘‘It’s not about sitting around talking about Parkinson’s, it’s about getting them out, meeting with other people for a coffee – it’s more the interactions, because that’s what makes us human,’’ she says.
‘‘It gives you the motivation to get up in the morning . . . the exercise is just a bonus.’’
Bob Eden