TEAM FOX – OFFICIAL BLOG

Parkinsons Won’t Stop Matt Wilbur
Journalism Interactive
November 4, 2009
Janet Lawrence

Matt Wilbur, 57, a seasoned marathoner from Mount Vernon, Ohio, completed the New York City Marathon in seven hours last Sunday.

His race time might have disappointed him in his 30s or 40s, when he routinely ran marathons in half that time. But since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2002, good finishing times have not been his main goal.

“I know what Parkinson’s is taking away from me, and I wanted to convince myself I’m one step ahead of it,” he said.

The race was Wilbur’s first since he was diagnosed. “It was uncomfortable, but you know that going into it. It went really well,” Wilbur said after finishing.

Wilbur, a high school math teacher, competed as one of 220 runners on Team Fox. The organization raises money to support the efforts of The Michael J. Fox Foundation in finding a cure for Parkinson’s, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that affects motor skills.

Wilbur and his wife, two daughters and their families traveled from Ohio for the marathon.

Wilbur’s daughter Kristen Martin, 30, from Cincinnati ran next to him in the race.

“I couldn’t pass up this opportunity with my dad,” Martin said before the race. “I have the rest of my life to run competitively, but just this with my dad. I want to see him finish, I want to make sure he doesn’t fall. I’m protective of him.”

Martin, a mother of two young girls, ran 26 miles in four hours recently in Ohio’s Towpath Marathon, but she did not run at her top speed on Sunday.

After he crossed the finish line, Wilbur said, “She can do a lot better than she had to do today. Today she ran ahead and took pictures of me.”

Shortly after his diagnosis, Wilbur read Michael J. Fox’s autobiography.

“I followed his battle and his campaign for Parkinson’s disease, I felt related to him, you know, we’re close to the same age,” he said.

Last spring, when Wilbur learned about Team Fox, he decided to join the team, raise funds for the foundation, and prove to himself he was still capable of doing a marathon

The night preceding the race, the foundation held a dinner for Team Fox members in Manhattan. Wilbur got a chance to meet Fox himself.

“We spoke, he was a nice man,” he said.

Wilbur’s compared his experience in the race to a double-edged sword.

He said, “It makes me feel good that I can still do this, and it shows me my limitations. I’m half the runner I used to be, but I also feel like I’ve accomplished a lot.”