ALEX SHARES

AT the age of just 36, Alex Flynn was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – but he refused to let it hold him back.

Instead, the former solicitor has gone on to tackle some of the world’s most physically challenging races and has never let his degenerative condition stand in the way.

Alex, now 48, has completed the notoriously tough Marathon des Sables in the searing heat of the Sahara Desert, pulled a 135lb sled across the Arctic in temperatures of -30C and run 125 miles through the Amazon.

Since 2009, he has successfully completed 270 marathons and challenges.

And the dad of three didn’t let up during lockdown either.

He spent 12 hours a day for a whole week climbing 69,226ft – more than double the height of Mount Everest – using just his stairs to raise money for charity.

So far, Alex’s amazing feats of physical endurance have raised more than £80,000 for Parkinson’s UK and more than £530,000 for charities worldwide.

He says: “I have learned to accept the bad days, and give my all on the good. I want to raise £1million for Parkinson’s UK in the hope of better treatments or even a cure one day.”

Fitness fanatic Alex was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2008 after he noticed his little finger moving involuntarily.

Incurable

Following a series of tests, he was told he had the incurable disease, which develops when cells that produce dopamine in the brain stop working and are lost over time.

In the UK, around 145,000 people are living with Parkinson’s and a further two people are diagnosed every hour.

There is no cure for the lifechanging disease, and sufferers are forced to live with the knowledge that they will slowly lose control of their body as the illness progresses.

Alex recalls: “When the neurologist told me it was Parkinson’s, my life suddenly felt meaningless.

“I was devoid of hope and my diagnosis weighed on me from the moment I woke to the moment I fell asleep.

“My twitching finger was a constant physical reminder of the battle I couldn’t fight and wouldn’t win.”

But after months of feeling both anger and despair, Alex realised that he couldn’t wallow. Instead, he focused on his work as a lawyer and ploughed all his energy into athletic events he’d planned to do before his diagnosis.

Alex continued training for the Marathon des Sables – a 150-mile race across the Sahara

Desert, known as the “toughest footrace on the Earth”.

During the event, Alex got lost and had to be rescued by local tribesmen.

He then became seriously ill and had to pull out of the race due viral pericarditis – an