New facility in New Bern helps those diagnosed with life-changing disease through boxing

The support of the community and a woman's determination to help others has led to a facility that will provide support to those who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

The owners of The Bike Box Project recently held a grand opening for its new facility located at 2607 Trent Road.

Bethany Richards and her husband Doug Townsend started raising awareness and raising funds for research for those with Parkinson's disease after her father, Michael Richards, was diagnosed with the life-altering disease.

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She started with a donation box attached to the back of her bicycle which later grew into the Bike Box Project, now a non-profit organization, with the help of the community. Since she started, Bethany has raised more than $200,000 to support the cause. Funds were donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

In 2020, the Bike Box Project joined forces with SWEAT Camp, a local gym, and began hosting Rock Steady Boxing. Rock Steady Boxing is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that gives people with Parkinson’s hope by improving their quality of life through a non-contact fitness class that helps with mobility, coordination, flexibility,

and voice projection in an upbeat, positive atmosphere.

Richards said the project has grown dramatically over the past few years and they needed more space to be able to offer more classes.

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"So many more people are getting diagnosed and finding out about us," she said. "So we're able to get our own space and offer more classes to them."

Richards said once the community took notice of the efforts, she was asked to do more events to increase awareness.

"That's when the 'Bernin to the Beach' ride started," she said. "We just started to do more things in the community and enough money was coming in that we decided to start our own nonprofit so that money we were raising would go back in our own community to people with Parkinson's."

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'Bernin to the Beach' is an annual event where cyclers ride from New Bern to Atlantic Beach to raise awareness and funds which are also donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

This year's event will be held on Oct. 29 beginning at the N.C. History Center in downtown New Bern. Live tickets have sold out, but tickets are still available to sponsors who would like to support the event in the name of their business and may do so until Sept. 16. There is a virtual option for anyone who would like to participate. To sign up for the virtual ride, visit runsignup.com.

The Bike Box Project will offer Rock Steady Boxing classes at 10 a.m. and noon Mondays and Wednesdays and 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"The classes are according to the different levels where people are with the disease," Richards said. "The classes on Tuesday and Thursday are for those with mobility restrictions such as having to use a wheelchair or a walker and the Monday and Wednesday classes are for those who are more independent and do not require as much assistance."

Anyone with Parkinson's is welcome to visit during any classes or business hours to tour the facility or watch a class.

Approximately one million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson's disease, with nearly 60,000 more Americans being diagnosed each year.

An estimated four percent of people with the disease are diagnosed before age 50 and men are 1.5 times more likely to have Parkinson's than women.

Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Symptoms usually begin gradually and worsen over time. As the disease progresses, people may have difficulty walking and talking. They may also have mental and behavioral changes, sleep problems, depression, memory difficulties, and fatigue.

There are currently no blood or laboratory tests to diagnose non-genetic cases of Parkinson’s. Doctors usually diagnose the disease by taking a person’s medical history and performing a neurological examination. If symptoms improve after starting to take medication, it’s another indicator that the person has Parkinson’s.

For more information on The Bike Box Project, visit them online or via their social media pages.

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Bike Box Project offers Rock Steady Boxing to aid Parkinson's disease