ONE IN A MILLION

One of the things we do at Rock Steady Boxing is answer the question of the day, it is a way to get everyone involved, some of us are shy. (that my friends, is an inside joke) One class the question was “what are you thankful for”, the answers were varied and interesting. When it came to my turn I answered, “my health” some of the expressions were priceless, here we were sitting in a class for people battling an incurable disease and I say I am thankful for my health, crazy right? But once you peel away the obvious, it is not as crazy as it sounds, I am truly thankful for what I have right here, right now.

The drive I have for fighting back is driven by my will to live “MY” life. My life is a world of motorcycles, bicycles, and long walks while on vacation, I literally can’t sit still. I love my life; it has brought myself and others a tremendous amount of joy and fantastic memories. My diagnoses only reinforced my desire to live every day of my life to the fullest. My first thoughts after diagnoses were thoughts of defeat, then one day I went for a bicycle ride and my troubles disappeared, for two hours anyway. That bike ride reminded me that there was still a lot of life left in the old boy. My sense of fear was replaced by my drive to meet my latest challenge, Parkinson’s disease head on.

I feel a sense of pride every time I ride my bicycle or ride on a motocross track. I don’t do it for attention, being the slowest at something bears little fruit. But doing something you love in spite of the obstacles placed in your path, now that’s a victory in anyone’s book. But there is more to it than just having a good time, through my hard work, I am buying myself the most important gift of all, time. I know that no matter what exercise I do, or what medication I take, time is not on my side. Yet my unwillingness to give in allows me more time to enjoy and accept my eventual fate, making it easier on myself and those around me.

I have lived a life full of regrets, I am your classic underachiever. I still remember my High School World Literature teacher telling me I was the biggest waste of talent he had ever seen. At the time I thought it was funny, but at sixty-one years old, not so much. I have always pushed off the hard stuff for fun stuff, I call myself a “responsible procrastinator”, it always gets done, when I get to it. But this time it’s different, I am not running the clock, Parkinson’s disease is, will it be generous or cut the game short, I don’t know. But when that final whistle blows, I want to be remembered not for who I was, but for what I was, a fighter who gave it everything he had and then some. My teacher was right, I never give it my best, but not this time, I am all in.

by Mark Hitechew