Cyclist establishes fund to fight Parkinson's
Riding his bike from coast-to-coast, H. Wallace Teal fulfills his mission--to create awareness of the disease that robbed his wife, Janny, of her life--Parkinson's.
"Prior to May, 1993, we knew nothing about Parkinson's," Wallace remembers.
Like many other people, Wallace and his wife were unaware this disorder of the central nervous system affects between one and one-and-a-half million Americans.
According to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the primary symptoms of Parkinson's are muscle rigidity; tremors of the limbs, head, neck, face, and jaw; slowed movements; poor balance; and difficulty walking. Secondary symptoms include depression, sleep disturbances, dizziness, stooped posture, constipation, dementia, and problems with speech, breathing, swallowing, and sexual function.
Although the actual causes of Parkinson's are unknown, studies of the brains of Parkinson's disease patients show degenerative changes in the substantia nigra. This part of the brain produces dopamine--a chemical that enables people to move smoothly and normally. It is a shortage of this chemical that causes the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Two years before her death, 48-year-old Janet "Janny" Johnston came to Loma Linda University Medical Center and underwent a pallidotomy operation performed by neurosurgeon Robert Iacono, MD. This procedure creates a small lesion in the globus pallidus of the brain which blocks the abnormal signals responsible for some of the symptoms of Parkinson's.
"In essence," tells Wallace, "this surgery gave my wife her life back for her two remaining years." Following the surgery, Janny never again experienced any of the pain or muscle rigidity that had plagued her beforehand.
Wallace initially began riding his bicycle for Parkinson's awareness following his wife's surgery. The couple lived in the Republic of Panama at the time, where Wallace organized 11 ocean-to-ocean bike rides. In his continued efforts to raise awareness, he began his bike ride across the United States at Loma Linda University Medical Center with a ribbon-cutting on February 28, 1999.
During the bike ride, which lasted 58 days and 3,174 miles, Wallace's progress was recognized by 15 newspapers, four television stations, and two radio stations. He also received seven city proclamations and the keys to one city.
"Through my entire bike ride," tells Wallace, "I was thinking of what I could do next, which brought me back to LLUMC and Dr. Iacono." On August 30, he established the Janet Johnston/H. Wallace Teal Parkinson's Research Endowment at the Medical Center. "Hopefully, its proceeds will contribute to finding a cure for Parkinson's in the near future--the cure to stop pain for so many people around the world."
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