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For the past four years since holding the first PingPongParkinson World Championship, we have met so many people who have touched our hearts and inspired our supporters and our work. We like to say, we never give up - and a big salute goes to those who keep us going by donating and helping run our classes and tournaments worldwide for people with a parkinson diagnosis.
A special thanks to you Fred for sharing your story. For almost 20 years, I have been living with this illness which imposed itself on me. Despite the progression of the illness, I never stopped fighting, trying to keep my spirits up and smiling. It was at the age of 26 that the symptoms of the disease appeared for me. This did not prevent me from meeting my wife with whom I have 2 beautiful children. But 3 years ago, a time when I was unable to hold a glass without spilling, and even worse for a dad, not being able to carry my son, my neurologist operated on me to perform deep brain stimulation. It was a first victory to curb the disease, I was very quickly able to carry my children in my arms. And then I met Franck Graindorge from PingPongParkinson France who told me about their first participation in the PingPongParkinson World Championship held in Croatia during summer 2022. He did not hide his enthusiasm from me, telling me that he had met a new family. I didn't realize how right he was until I joined PingPongParkinson!! An adventure was launched to finance this great project, find sponsors and donors, a strong solidarity was therefore put in place to go to Wels in Austria for the PingPongParkinson World Championship. We received support from the local ping pong club, school, and so many people. As I had the opportunity to tell some of you in Austria - sport unites. In fact, it doesn't matter how many matches we won or lost because we weren't playing against an opponent, but against Parkinson disease. Many moral values resulted from this, so many beautiful encounters, smiles, and kindness that will make me rich in this amazing journey, so a big thank you to all of you for allowing Franck and me such an adventure!!! Emotionally we were on top. Thanks to Nenad who allowed us to experience such moments, Thorsten for his discussions and his invitation to Nordhorn, Hamid and his wife, Mauro, Niels, Nadine... I can't wait to see you again. Frédéric Gourmon - PingPongParkinson Member.
4 Comments
12/30/2023 06:59:09 am
Love your line :
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Susan Philips
3/4/2024 07:07:01 am
I am so excited to get to know other Pongers. I was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease in 2012. I liven in Tulsa, OK. Does anyone know where and when the world tournament for 2024 will be? Also, Will there still be a 2023 USA tournament?
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3/4/2024 08:25:15 am
Hi Susan,
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Susan Phillips
3/7/2024 07:37:36 am
When will you know the new dates for the US 2024 championship and do you know for sure that there will still be a 2024 tournament? Leave a Reply. |
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