Montrealer to honour his late father through Parkinson Canada SuperWalk

The Montreal Parkinson Canada SuperWalk will take place Sept. 8 at Parc des Bénévoles in Kirkland.

Robert Hutcheson will be taking part in the walk to honour his father, James Hutcheson, who passed away in December 2023.

“For me, we have about 20 people joining us in the walk, and it’ll be great to get together. We can’t really do anything for my dad anymore directly, so it’s a really good chance for us to get together and do something in his memory,” said Robert Hutcheson.

Hutcheson admired his father’s qualities.

“My father was a great guy. He was very smart, very kind, and everyone who knew him really got along well with him. He was very soft-spoken even before he had Parkinson’s disease, but he had a great sense of humor, always cracking jokes,” he said.

He recalls fond memories with him.

“I think, since his disease did progress pretty slowly, we had many great years, especially in the beginning, and a lot of those times were spent up north at our cottage, either out on the pontoon boat or his little fishing boat, or just sitting up at the house on the porch looking out over the lake. And we do have a large family, so just getting together with aunts and uncles and the cousins and my whole family, and all those gatherings were really special as well.

“And I think what I liked to see was that my own three daughters were able to really get to know him while he was alive, so that was nice as well.”

Around 20 years ago, Hutcheson’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after the family noticed a shake in his pinky finger, and ran tests with a doctor.

“Shortly after his diagnosis, he had to stop his job as a lithographer because the work was just getting to be too much with his condition. But after that, it was quite a gradual progression, and he took the medications that he was prescribed, and they seemed to work quite well to stop the shaking, so he actually had many good years of life after that,” said Hutcheson.

“It was only until later where the more serious complications started, like the Parkinson’s-related dementia and the rigidity, and then at the very end, that’s when he was finally admitted to the hospital, and four months after that, he passed away.”

Robert Hutcheson’s mother Janet was James’ solo caregiver, something that was quite difficult for her.

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“She was dealing with it for over 20 years, and it was progressively getting worse,” said Hutcheson. “I think overall she did an amazing job. She’s very strong, and she was always able to stay optimistic throughout the whole thing. She always stuck close to him by his side, and she was lucky to have support from a big family. We have a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins, and everyone was helping her out as much as they could. She did get some help from the CLSC later on when she really did need it. So for anyone who is going through the same thing, I urge them to go out and try to get as much help, especially for the main caregiver, because it can be a significant burden.”

Janet will be walking alongside her son at Montreal Parkinson Canada SuperWalk, along with family and friends — something that Hutcheson says his mom is looking forward to.

“She’s really looking forward to finally connecting with the community as well. And I think that she’s enjoyed seeing the donations that have been coming in, and she’s got a lot of great words of support from not only our friends and family but from some other people as well, just reaching out to her,” he said.

“It’ll be nice to be there with my mom too because it’s been particularly hard for her with the whole experience that she’s gone through.

“We’re looking forward to connecting with the wider Parkinson’s community too because this will be the first time that we do the walk. It’s probably something that I should have been involved in years ago, and I wish I had, but now I think it’s nice to finally be connecting a little bit more. And we hope to meet some other people so that we can share stories and share some support as well.”

The SuperWalk has been around since 1990, and Canadians from across the country have taken part in the fundraiser.

“It’s the same weekend every year,” said Hali Ludwick, bilingual events coordinator for Parkinson Canada. “So it’s the weekend after Labour Day, and there are 30 locations across Canada from British Columbia all the way to the Maritimes. Through all those events, we hope to raise as much as we can, obviously to help support this amazing cause.

“It was quite small when it started. And now, we’ve grown to 30 locations, and we’re always looking to grow that more, for sure, because there’s definitely a need for it as the disease itself is a growing concern in Canada. So it’s definitely evolved; every year we have more and more participants, which is a wonderful thing to see. And we just hope to keep on growing the events and making it more accessible to everybody.

“I really try to bring the whole community together. Just because I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re alone, whether they’re newly diagnosed or they’ve known that they’ve had the disease for years. It’s always nice to know that there’s other people around that are going through the same thing and families that are going through the same thing, and everybody can be there for one another because it is such a tough disease to navigate for both the caregivers and the people living with it.”

The event has raised over $44 million. The funds will be used to help with research, support tools, and advocacy for those living with Parkinson’s.

“I always say that these people are some of the most resilient people I’ve ever met in my entire life,” said Ludwick. “When you get diagnosed, it’s something that you have to live with for a long time. And it’s a very difficult disease to manage, and these people don’t give up and just push through every day, and are really some of the strongest people I’ve met. So, knowing that we’ve raised this much and that it’s going to fuel research and other services for them is extremely rewarding. And I leave my events with a very full heart.

“A lot of people, when they’re diagnosed, go into a depression and they become very isolated. They’re embarrassed about talking about the disease. And so, it’s very important to make sure that they feel like they have a community and that they don’t feel alone.”

Hutcheson and his family are excited to participate in the event at Parc des Bénévoles next weekend.

“I think just everyone getting together and doing something for him, even after he has passed away, has just brought us all together and has made us feel really good about it,” said Hutcheson. “And it’s something that we would like to do every year from now on to honour him. And we hope that we can contribute, even if it is just a little bit, to raising money to hopefully help other families out who are going through the same thing that we did. And through the whole Parkinson’s Foundation, I think that we would like to be more involved in the future in that way.”

Their team has already raised over $2,000, and other teams throughout Montreal have also raised funds for the cause.

“My hope is really that the funds collected at the Parkinson’s Superwalk can go towards improving research, helping improve the quality of life of people with Parkinson’s disease, finding better treatments, and then eventually finding a cure, because that’s the ultimate goal,” said Hutcheson.

“If you would also like to participate in the actual walk, we welcome anyone to either join our team or another team or to just come solo, and you can also register on that site as well. So we’re looking forward to hopefully some good weather and we’ll have a great day with everyone supporting the cause.”

For more, visit the Parkinson Canada Superwalk website.