Racing To Beat Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease
When people receive a life altering diagnosis, it’s natural to only think of the negative. This was no different for Catherine Popp and Tony Copeland-Parker.
In her 50’s, Catherine was diagnosed with early-onset Alzhemizer’s disease. When they received her diagnosis, Catherine and her life partner Tony’s initial reaction was that life as they knew it was going to come to a screeching halt.
As they were both avid marathon runners, they began to think that this part of life was also now over. But rather then going in this direction, they decided to dedicate their lives to pursuing their dream of running a marathon in 50 states.
They have since closed this goal and are now travelling the United States with a new goal to run half marathons in 50 states. As Tony shared with me, “A diagnosis is not a death sentence but in fact a life sentence.”. Here is their inspiring story.
By Anthony Copeland-Parker
When Catherine and I were in our fifties, we both received some shocking news. We found out that she had early-onset Alzheimer’s and that I needed open heart-valve replacement surgery.
At that time, I was a Commercial Pilot/Manager for thirty-seven years, the last twenty-seven with United Parcel Service. My job was managing pilots and flying Boeing 757/767-Type Aircraft all over the world.
But now neither of us knew what our new normal was going to look like.
How long was I going to fly the desk until I got my medical back, after my surgery? How long was Catherine going to be able to hold on to her job? Both questions weighed heavy on my heart and mind.
Also, along with these questions was one other. Both Catherine and I were avid marathon runners and this situation forced that future up in the air for us both as well.
When it came time for my surgery, my surgeon who was also a triathlete understood what was necessary to get me back running again. So we built my surgery plan with the objective that if all went well, I would be ready to run the Berlin Marathon in 3 months.
As for Catherine, her condition began to worsen. We were fortunate that we were able to work with the Human Resources Department where she worked so that her now poor job performance could be listed as a disability. This step allowed her to leave her position with both her severance and a pension with health insurance. We also worked with Social Security in hopes of getting a disability determination.
As good fortune would have it, I was in good enough shape to run the Berlin Marathon so that’s what we did. But when we returned home, we also returned with the realization that our true love was to travel as runners.
The big question however concerned my work. We weren’t sure whether I would leave Catherine at home alone, while I continued to work, or tackle her diagnosis as a team effort.
We made our decision.
In order to have some flexibility, we decided to list our condominium for sale. This would give us some options as to what we would be able to do.
Not only did we get an offer right away, the buyer had cash and wanted us out of the house in two weeks. We also received confirmation that Catherine’s job situation and social security came through just as we had hoped for.
So, with these two decisions now finalized, I made a third. I decided to take an early retirement and we decided to became nomads, running marathons and half marathons all over the world.
We made that decision seven years ago.
When we took that step, we thought we would eventually find someplace else to live but as it turns out we’re still on the move today.
So far, Catherine and I have traveled to eighty-two different countries. We have run at least a half-marathon in thirty-five countries and on all seven continents.
When the pandemic hit the world, we were in St. Kitts after coming off a Windstar Cruise of the Caribbean. After a month there we managed to make our way back to the states.
I then put a plan together to get Catherine the last 3 states she needed to get a marathon done in all 50 states plus DC.
As you can probably guess, Catherine and I are very goal oriented. But since so much is out of Catherine’s control, I saw this as something she could achieve and give her the some much needed satisfaction.
I was so happy when I had the honor to cross the finish line with her, in Narragansett, Rhode Island, that being her 50th state. That was quite an accomplishment of a quest she had started working on 24 years earlier.
Today, we are working on our new goal – to complete a half marathon in all 50 states and we have completed 33 so far.
During our years as running nomads, we pushed our physical and mental limitations as often as we could—and we have finished every race we ran hand in hand.
Our favorite commercial is a straightforward ad for ALZ.org where they talk about their belief that the first person who will be cured is alive today. We both feel that Catherine could be that person. The benefits of staying active, physically, mentally and socially have been well documented and we believe our lifestyle has given us many quality years in hopes that she will one day be cured of this dreadful disease.
Initially, when you’re delivered a devastating diagnosis, you think about how life as you know it is coming to an end and how little time you have left.
But it’s funny how this perspective shifts.
When actually faced with this situation, it forces you to crystalize your thinking about what is really important and what you want to do with the time that you do have left. You also then treasure every moment and experience you have.
And that’s why we keep on running.
About the author;
Anthony Copeland-Parker is retired and has been running all over the world as nomads with his life partner Catherine after she was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s for over six years. He documents their story at PlayHard-HaveFun.com and has also written a book entitled, Running All Over the World, Our Race Against Early Onset Alzheimer’s, which is scheduled to be released in August, 2021.
