New Hampshire Man Sails for PD Awareness

It is 2006. Bob Preston, a young successful insurance-business owner who has a nice house, two great children, "the world's best wife," and a boat featured in the centerfold of MotorBoating Magazine is beginning to slow down and his doctors suspect Lyme disease. Test results, however, are negative. Only a "ratcheting" in his wrists gives them a clue, and at 47 years old, Bob is disagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

In the five years since then, Bob has taken the disease head-on. "It is what it is. I live in the moment. I still have the same sense of humor and I don't plan to let life pass me by."

And to prove it, Bob, who has a 50-ton commercial vessel captain's license, and his admiral, wife Backy, have launched the "Optimism Can Take You Anywhere Tour," an approximately 5,000-mile roung trip excursion from northern Maine to the Floriday Keys on their 37-foot Back Cove motor yacht, to raise awareness and funds for PD research.

He is setting his sights to raise $150,000 for Parkinson's research, and expects that the boat trip will last until next spring. The odyssey will include stops along the way to meet with other American Parkinson Disease chapter people, give media interviews to highten awareness and to raise rsearch funds.

As he progresses along the East Coast, you can follow on his Facebook page (Bob Preston Cure PD) and on Twitter @Cure PD. To support Bob's Optimism Tour visit http://apdaparkinson.donordrive.com/participant/bobprestonpd.

The American Parkinson Disease Association is the largest grassroots organization serving the 1.5 million people in the United States, their families and caregivers. Operating through a national network or centers for advanced research, chapters and patient information and support centers, APDA meets its unique dual mission to "Ease the Burden - Find the Cure" for Parkinson's disease.

K.G. Whitford
American Parkinson Disease Assocation
Parkinson Plaza
135 Parkinson Avenue
Staten Island, New York 10305

This release was published on openPR.