Carmen Marrero with Times Publisher Alan Cruikshank at the Parkinson’s seminar in Phoenix.
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L. Alan Cruikshank, Publisher
I attended the Davis Phinney Victory Summit in Phoenix on Saturday, Jan. 26.
The all-day event for people living with Parkinson’s disease was well attended with some 1000 filling the large ballroom at the Phoenix Convention Center. I rode down there on a bus with 23 other members of the Fountain Hills Parkinson’s group.
The morning session was a combination of speakers and movement leaders, who showed us various exercises including a dance that was done to the Michael Jackson hit “Thriller.”
To my surprise, the final movement presenter of the morning was a former employee of mine at The Times.
Carmen Marrero, a former production artist with our firm, is now working as the Art of Movement instructor for Spanish-speaking Parkinson’s patients at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center in Phoenix.
She led the group in a yoga laughter routine. Incidentally, she introduced Editor Mike Scharnow to wife Brenda when Carmen was working here.
Davis Phinney, who I had not heard of prior to this event, is the winningest cyclist in American history. He won stage victories in the Tour de France and a bronze medal in the Olympics. After his retirement from racing, he continued working as a sportscaster for ABC, CBS and NBC. In 2000, he was diagnosed with Young–Onset Parkinson’s.
Never one to be deterred by life’s obstacles, Davis opted to take Parkinson’s head-on.
In 2004, he formed the Davis Phinney Foundation. It was created as a way to focus on the promotion and funding of innovative research on the benefits of exercise and other clinical aspects that affect the quality of life of people with Parkinson’s.
In the afternoon breakout sessions, I learned that Dr. Ponce of the Barrows Neurological Institute is now performing Deep Brain Stimulation surgery while the patient is asleep. Only a handful of neurosurgeons worldwide perform the procedure under general anesthesia. When I had my surgery, I, like most, was awake for the entire procedure.
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Well, now that the Super Bowl is behind us, that means that baseball spring training isn’t far off. In fact, pitchers and catchers report next Monday and position players are supposed to be in camp by Thursday, the 14th.
The Diamondbacks’ and Colorado Rockies’ training facility is the closest to us at the 101 north of Indian Bend Road. The World Series champion San Francisco Giants also train in Scottsdale at their facility located at Civic Center and Osborn Road in old town Scottsdale.
And as we reported in the current issue of Let’s Go!, the Cactus League games start on Feb. 22.
