An interview with Jamie Bryson from Parkinson’s Fight Club on June 30, 2023 by George Ackerman, Ph.D, J.D.
Biography
I’m the father of 3 awesome boys, 5, 10 and 13. I’m the husband to my beautiful bride. I work full time, self-employed, in the Real Estate industry. I’m a PhD dropout, I have 2 master’s degrees which are not relevant to my line of work, and I have the student loans to prove it! I am an endurance athlete; I have competed in triathlons including 2 full Ironman’s and a bunch of 70.3s. The bike is my happy place, as I like to say, lately I have been focusing on Mountain Biking and Gravel biking.
Please tell me a little about your background and what got you involved with awareness.
I was diagnosed with YOPD in 2021 just before my 40th birthday. I got involved in awareness because I am a fighter and I wanted to help and inspire others to fight.
Fight Club is a community and a movement of people who choose to be resilient in the face of difficult circumstances. We focus on improving our mindset, improving our lifestyle, and always trying to be the best version of ourselves. We don’t accept the status quo. We believe in progress. We fight, knowing we won’t win every round, but we will keep getting back up when we get knocked down. We don’t have a white towel to throw in. What we have is determination, perseverance, grit, and a refusal to give in to the disease.
Can you tell me more about your Advocacy?
My Podcast is called The Parkinson’s Fight Club. I started it along with a Facebook group to inspire others with Parkinson’s to fight the disease and not give up.
What is your passion and how did you get involved in Parkinson’s awareness and hope for a cure?
I just started posting on social media and then started my podcast. What really motivated me to do it was that I felt like there were not really many groups or podcasts that were about fighting disease. A lot of the groups are very sad and depressing. There are some great podcasts out there, but they are mostly informational and talk about living with the disease. My approach is a bit different. I would describe this as the difference between playing offense and playing defense.
What type of goals do individuals with Parkinson’s have when working with you?
If I can help just one person with their mindset and inspire them to fight instead of being a victim, then I consider my efforts to be worth it. Of course, I hope I can influence and inspire many more than that. But you can’t fight this disease from the sidelines.
What type of training and how long are the programs?
I’m still in the beginning of what the fight club could become someday. I would love to have programs available online for group exercise, individual coaching, training on things like nutrition and self-advocacy.
What effect can it have on an individual with Parkinson’s?
Really what I want to do is equip people to fight. That starts with knowledge, and then a daily effort to manage mindset. I want to give people hope and then give them the tools to turn that hope into belief.
What would you like to see as a future goal for your programs?
I’m still dreaming about this one!
How can someone get in touch? What is your website?
As of right now, would love for people to just subscribe to the podcast and/or my YouTube channel. In the future there may be a nonprofit etc.
If you had one final statement or quote you could leave for the Parkinson’s community, what would it be?
Keep fighting!