Adventurer Alex Flynn, 49, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2008 and has completed an array of extreme challenges with Everest next in line.
So far he’s raised almost £400,000 for charity and now aims to be the first human with Parkinson’s to climb Mount Everest.
Alex who was just 36 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s back in 2008, has so far raised about £385,000 for researching the debilitating disease by completing a begrudging series of extreme challenges around the world over the last 10 years.
During the height of the first coronavirus lockdown, Alex didn’t sit around planning his next move… Instead, he climbed twice the height of Everest by going up the stairs in his home. That’s a mind-melting 10 million metres on his own stairs!
Now he’s planning on climbing the actual Mount Everest for real and aims to inspire other people suffering from Parkinson’s.
He told the PA news agency:
“My main reason for doing all of this is because, intrinsically, with neurological disease, your world gets incrementally smaller day by day.
“You lose your power of speech, your power to walk, write, have sex – I haven’t quite got there yet – and everything else that everybody in the world takes for granted.”
Adding:
“I want to give back some kind of hope that ‘if Alex can get up a bloody mountain, then I can get across my living room’ is what I want to hear them say, ‘I can take on something that is my Everest’, whether that’s walking down the shops, or walking past people who stop and stare at you, because you’re walking like a crazy thing or a robot, or having difficulty counting out the money in your hand.”
Three of the extreme challenges Mr Flynn has completed include:
- 3,256-mile journey across the US by kayak, bike and on foot
- 450km expedition in the Swedish Arctic
- 160-mile run in the Bavarian Alps
Each is truly as incredible as the next and on top of the inspirational effect they may have on others he also believes the challenges have had multiple benefits for himself.
Alex said:
“The ability to do these challenges has kept my self-confidence and self-worth going, yes, but then the also the extreme exercise I think has been exceptionally beneficial in stopping my deterioration or slowing my deterioration down.”
Hailing from Wantage in Oxfordshire Mr Flynn the adventurer with Parkinson’s plans on climbing Mont Blanc, Mera Peak and Himlung Himal this Autumn to help him acclimatise to the altitude before climbing Everest next April.
He mentions a two-year-old boy who was diagnosed in 2016 as a special inspiration.
“Just imagine what that kid’s gonna go through at school – his peers, the names he’s going to be called, the bullying he’s going to encounter just because he’s different.
“That makes me mad.”
He wishes the money raised will help that young boy to one day be cured of the horrible illness.
“To be able to give that child who was diagnosed back in 2016 and others the ability to say ‘I used to have Parkinson’s’ – that would be truly f****** amazing.”
If you wish to donate to Alex Flynn the adventurer with Parkinson’s, go to gofund.me/18e1a208
Want to keep up with the latest news? Check out the rest of our articles here and for all things sports, click here.