THANKS FOR PAIRING WiTH US TO SOCK IT TO PD!

My name is Chuck. 

I am the founder of SockItToPD.  I am a runner, and have always thought it was strange that many races didn’t have a specific cause they were associated with, it was just a race.  The few races that were backed by a cause  were usually cancer related (lung cancer, breast cancer, etc).  These races and causes are absolutely amazing, and I am always willing to support them, but I had been very fortunate in my life, that none of these causes had impacted me personally. 

Maybe that is selfish, but it was always a hang up I had.  Growing up I was reared by a woman who taught me the importance of giving back.  In early 2010s, my father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.  This was an absolute blow to me.  I had no idea what this really meant, or the implications of how it would impact me.  I was selfish.  All I could think of was me during this time.  It took months, before I was able to step back, and say this isn’t me, this is my father.  How is he dealing with this?  How is it impacting his life? 

After I was able to come to grips with this, I had already signed up for the Dopey Challenge in Disney World.  I didn’t realize at the time how this race would change my life.  The entire weekend, I saw things that said TeamFox, and I heard the announcers say “Thanks to TeamFox”, but I had no idea what this really meant.  So I just chalked it up to just some other random crazy group in Disney.  On the final day at approximately Mile 20 something (I don’t exactly remember, I was running 48.6 miles in 4 days, things got a little blurry), I see the back of someone’s shirt that said TeamFox For Parkinson’s Research.  The light went off in my head.  I was completely overcome with joy at this moment.  I had found a cause to really put some effort behind, a place to give back to.  A way to make the world a better place.  As soon as I get home from Disney, I reached out to TeamFox and told them I wanted to be involved, and then the next year, I was at Disney with TeamFox meeting all the amazing people that are a part of the organization.  I try to do what I can every year to raise awareness.  It could be hosting a special work out a gym, selling these socks, wearing a TeamFox tshirt to dinner or a race, or hosting a dinner at a local restaurant.

I was recently posed with a question:  “You don’t have Parkinson’s, why are you so active with TeamFox?  If your dad wasn’t around would you still be this involved?”  This person wasn’t trying to be insensitive, and I didn’t take it as such, it was more of a question of they wanted to know why I cared like I do. 

I told them, it wasn’t for my father.  It was for the caregivers and families.  Words are not able to describe how this has had an impact on me and the way I look at life.  If any dollar I help raise goes to further treatment and research (which it does), and makes it so someone else in the future doesn’t have to experience and feel the things my family and I have, it will be all worth it.