Fighting for family: Manis finds his cause
Former area lacrosse standout launches Parkinson’s fundraiser
When Brian Adam was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, it hurt his nephew especially hard.
Nick Manis Jr. has long considered his uncle Brian an important mentor, and they have always been close.
When friends involved with a charitable organization known as “Difference Makers” challenged Manis to undertake a fundraising event, it did not take the Annapolis resident long to identify a cause.
“When the idea was initially brought to me, I considered it for a while and my thoughts kept coming back to my uncle Brian,” Manis said. “Just seeing the toll this disease has taken on him and knowing what he’s been through has been tough. Uncle Brian has been a big role model my whole life, someone I have always looked up to.”
Last year, Brian Adam underwent Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in San Francisco. That procedure to implant a device that sends electrical signals to brain areas responsible for body movement lasted seven hours.
Manis flew out to San Francisco to visit his uncle while he was recovering from the surgery and was blown away upon hearing about the intricacy of the surgery and the fact it lasted so long.
“I really latched onto the seven hours. I wanted to do something for my charity challenge that took the same amount of time as my uncle’s surgery,” he said.
This Sunday, Manis will push his body to the extreme to raise funds for Parkinson’s research. The former Severn School and University of Maryland lacrosse standout is running 26.2 miles through the Bacon Ridge Trail in Crownsville then swimming 2.2 miles across the Severn River. Manis and his trainer, Ryan Morrissey Peak Custom Fitness Solutions, estimate the run portion will take 5 ½ hours due to the fact it involves 5,000 feet of vertical climbing. Hopefully, the swim portion — starting at the Sherwood Forest community beach and ending at the Linstead- on- the- Severn community beach — will last an hour and a half.
Manis partnered with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research on the fundraiser. For every $200 raised, Manis donated an additional $25 of his own money. All proceeds will go to the charitable organization established by the famous actor and dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s. Manis announced the fundraiser on Feb. 15 and originally set a goal of raising $5,000. With the marathon run-swim event one day away, the initiative has already raised almost $26,000.
“It’s really unbelievable how generous people have been, and I’ve just been blown away by all the support,” Manis said.
Storybook life
Brian Adam grew up outside of Philadelphia and was a standout athlete at Ridley High in Folsom, Pa. The 6-foot-3 225-pounder earned a football scholarship to the University of Delaware and was a starting tight end from 1975-77. His name can still be found in the Blue Hens record book for career receptions (59), receptions per game (4.8 in 1977) and yards receiving (749 in 1977).
He met the former Harriet Manis at Delaware and the two were married shortly after graduation, initially settling in her hometown of Annapolis, and they eventually moved to the Linstead-on-theSevern community in Severna Park and had three daughters, all of whom played multiple sports at Severn School.
Jess Adam was the Capital Gazette Female Athlete of the Year in 2004 and enjoyed an outstanding lacrosse career at Duke. Elizabeth and Anastasia Adam played college lacrosse at Stanford and Vanderbilt, respectively.
Brian Adamdid well in business, serving a 12-year stint as a treasurer for Amtrak before moving into investment banking. He currently is co-owner of Chesapeake Solar, which finances commercial solar energy projects. It was a storybook life until 2013 when Brian literally stumbled onto his Parkinson’s diagnosis. A neck injury suffered while playing football in high school flared up and began to give him problems, pinching nerves in the left arm that led to numbness in his fingers.
He was told by doctors that neck surgery would only marginally alleviate the issue and was probably not worth going through. However, after being put through a complete clinical diagnosis and undergoing numerous tests, Adam showed certain symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Dr. Steven Rich of the University of Maryland Medical Center, the third neurosurgeon to evaluate Adam, confirmed the diagnosis. He’d had a positive reaction to the medication Levodopa, which is a strong indicator.
“I was pretty devastated,” Adam acknowledged. “It’s not a life-threatening disease, but it’s progressive and degenerative and certainly impacts quality of life.”
For now, there is no cure for Parkinson’s Disease. The Deep Brian Stimulation surgery, which involved planting two electrodes in the brain that provide an electrical charge that prevent Parkinson’s patients from suffering fluctuations to the prescribed medication, has helped a bit.
“There were some positive things that came out of it,” Harriet Adam said of the surgery. “Unfortunately, it didn’t address some of the balance issues Brian had.”
Parkinson’s affects people differently. Some suffer severe tremors, while others — such as Brian — have speech and balance issues. Thanks to the efforts of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other organizations, researchers are making progress and experimental therapies are being explored. Exercise is critical to slowing progression of the disease, so Brian does routine stretching, yoga and weight training, while taking lots of long walks on the B&A Trail with his wife.
No. 1 cheerleader
The Manis family is well known in Annapolis. George Manis was a star basketball player at Annapolis High and the University of Maryland. He became a prominent attorney in Annapolis and was a founding partner of two law firms.
George Manis later co-founded the lobbying firm Manis, Canning and Associates. His son, Nick Manis, was also a decorated athlete — playing football, basketball and lacrosse at St. Mary’s then becoming an All-American lacrosse player at the University of Maryland.
Nick Jr. was the third generation of Manis men to attend Maryland and developed into a top-notch defender and key member of the 2017 national championship team.
Brian Adam thoroughly enjoyed following his nephew’s athletic career at both the high school and college level. All the Adams girls had graduated college by the time Nick Jr., now 26, was playing at Maryland and Adam attended almost all the home games. He was in the stands at Gillette Stadium when the Terrapins captured the Division I national title for the first time since 1975.
“It was an easy transition to go from watching women’s lacrosse to men’s lacrosse. Nick was an extremely hard worker who battled through some injuries to really find his niche at Maryland,” Adam said. “It was so exciting to see the Terps capture the championship, and it was made all the sweeter because Nick was a redshirt senior who had overcome injuries.
“Nick is very much like the son I never had. He’s been a special person in our lives”
Adam is humbled his nephew has chosen to undertake this grueling runswim challenge for the purpose of fundraising for Parkinson’s in his honor.
“Nick wanted to do this marathon for me, and it means so much. I’m so inspired by what Nick is doing,” the 64-year-old Adam said. “When Nick does something, he does it big. I know what Nick is doing Sunday is going to be very difficult, but I’m confident his energy and determination will pull him through. He has the amazing energy level of a top-notch, highly-trained athlete.”
Brian and Harriet Adam, along with their daughter Elizabeth, will be waiting at the Linstead community beach when Manis emerges from the Severn River to complete the seven-hour event.
“Parkinson’s is sort of like running a marathon. You get up every day and you have to be prepared to work hard and give everything you have,” Harriet Adam said. “You need a community of cheerleaders who will support you through the race. Nicholas has been and will continue to be a huge cheerleader for Brian.”