By Jackie Kostek, Adam Harrington
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — April is Parkinson’s awareness month, and Bill Bucklew is a shining example of what’s possible with the condition.
In his latest upcoming adventure, Bucklew will serve as co-captain of a team of athletes with Parkinson’s who will cycle most of the length of the historic Route 66.
Parkinson’s is one of the fastest-growing neurological diseases in the U.S., with more than 90,000 Americans diagnosed each year.
The progressive brain condition causes tremors, slow movement, and problems with balance.
Bucklew was diagnosed at 43 years old. He said he had been looking for an answer about some tightness in his leg for five years before that, and finally found out he had Parkinson’s.
“So in some respects, when I was diagnosed ultimately with Parkinson’s in 2012, it was helpful to know what the problem was. But I didn’t really even know what Parkinson’s was,” Bucklew said. “It was like a punch in the stomach — a huge shock for me. my family, my friends, and everybody.”
But Bucklew learned early on that exercise can help slow the progression of the disease.
“I just dove in head first and said, you know what? I’m going to put up some serious challenges in front of me that will cause me to exercise and then get the medicine of exercise, so to speak. So I started that first year off, and I think it was about a month after I was diagnosed, I signed up for the Wisconsin Ironman — the full Ironman in Wisconsin,” he said. “I had no idea if I could do it. Actually, I really wasn’t sure that I could. Ended up doing that, and I got so much better during that process, I felt so much better, that I just kind of started cascading into other awareness campaigns that had exercise involved in them.”
CBS News Chicago talked previously with Bucklew in 2022, as he was running along 11 teammates for Team Synapse. At the time Bucklew and his teammates were also getting ready at the time to run the Blue Ridge Relay, which spans more than 200 miles from southwestern Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina.
Bucklew has also taken part in 11 Olympic triathlons, run close to 50 marathons, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He has walked across the United States and Great Britain.
“All of that were used as fundraisers to raise awareness for the disease, but also, selfishly, to get the exercise and really force myself to have the discipline of getting that,” he said.
As Bucklew’s Parkinson’s has progressed, he is not as comfortable with walking and running as he used to be — but he’s still taking on athletic feats. CBS News Chicago also caught up with Bucklew in 2024, when he and three friends with Parkinson’s were prepared to cycle some 4,000 miles from Virginia to San Diego — each logging about 70 miles a day for 65 consecutive days.
Now, Bucklew set to get on his recumbent tricycle and set off on a cross-cycle of the length of Route 66, along with a team of others living with Parkinson’s.
Bucklew is a co-captain of Team Route 66, which will also include cyclists from elsewhere in the Midwest and from Toronto. They’ll meet up with other teams along the way.
They’ll pass through a lot of the cities mentioned in the famous song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” — St. Louis; Oklahoma City; Amarillo, Texas; Gallup, New Mexico. They’re not following Route 66 all the way to its terminal at Santa Monica Pier right outside Los Angeles though, as there’s an important event in Phoenix for which they’re headed.
“We’re on a big adventure. We’re going to the World Parkinson’s Coalition in Phoenix, Arizona. This coalition comes together only every three years. It’s in a different country every time. So it happens to be in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 23,” Bucklew said, “and we’re going to hop on our tricycles here in Chicago at the beginning of Route 66 on April 20 and ride all the way to it, arriving the day before.”
Bucklew emphasized how helpful his tricycle is for people whose balance is such that they can no longer ride a bicycle.
“It’s a three-wheeled bicycle that’s fairly low to the ground, so it requires no balance. So people who have quit cycling can really get back into the sport through this,” he said. “This tricycle and TerraTrike, our sponsor, have been very helpful.”
Again, Bucklew and his teammates’ 1,600-mile bike ride along the historic Route 66 is set to take off April 20. More information is available through the World Parkinson Congress or via Facebook, and donations are also being accepted.
This year marks the centennial of Route 66.
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