Staying Active to Battle Health Challenges
Steve Gilbert running in a 10K in Carmel, IN. Photo courtesy of Steve Gilbert
Ball State graduate using boxing, mountain-climbing, and marathon-running to fight back Parkinson’s
For Steve Gilbert, ’68, his journey to doing the impossible is based not only on gut-wrenching adversity, but also on the courage to face it head-on.
Mr. Gilbert majored in Psychology at Ball State and was one of the founding members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on campus. However, he didn’t pursue a job in psychology. Soon after he retired from a long career as a beverage wholesaler in 2004, his world came crashing down.
“Within a few months after I retired, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and not long after, Parkinson’s Disease,” Mr. Gilbert said. “After that, I was managing things, but not really living. Then I heard about Rock Steady Boxing.”
Rock Steady Boxing is a nationwide, nonprofit organization giving people with Parkinson’s hope by improving their quality of life through non-contact, boxing-based exercises. It is believed that the vigorous exercises done by boxers can lessen the impacts of the disease.
“I read about Rock Steady and the success it has had. So, I went in 2007 and asked for a pair of gloves,” Mr. Gilbert said. “And it put me on a course to do things that I would have thought impossible.”
Soon after, Mr. Gilbert began to add half and full marathons to his exercise routines. This past Spring, he qualified for the Boston Marathon in the mobility-impaired class and posted a personal best time of 5:11:04. At 77, he was older than all but 20 of the 30,000 entrants.
And Mr. Gilbert has climbed mountains. He summited the 12,000-foot Medicine Bow Mountains in Wyoming and the 14,260-foot Mount Evans in Colorado. Then came a trek up the Inca Trail in Peru to reach Machu Picchu.
“He’s fierce,” says Kristy Rose Follmar, a former World Boxing Federation light welterweight champ, and Mr. Gilbert’s longtime boxing coach. “He works like an animal in the gym and around the punching bags. But he’s a brilliant man and a gentle soul.”
His Parkinson’s symptoms have remained relatively mild—which Mr. Gilbert credits to his rigorous lifestyle. He has no plans to start “taking it easy.” The support from his wife, family, and friends is crucial.
“What I’ve come to realize is that many of the best things in my life have happened to me after I got Parkinson’s disease, thanks to the program at Rock Steady Boxing,” he said. “What am I doing with my life if I can provide some inspiration to others with Parkinson’s (or other challenges) and don’t?”
