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May 15, 2008 6:52 pm US/Mountain
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Boulder Cyclist Helps Dad With Parkinson's Fight
Taylor Phinney Earned A Spot On The U.S. Olympic Team
Written by Reggie Rivers
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Boulder cycling phenom Taylor Phinney is only 17, but he has already won a world championship in track racing and earned a berth in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
But among his family members, he's achieved something even greater: he has drawn attention toward his father, Davis Phinney, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease. The elder Phinney was a cycling star in the 1980s, and he was the first American to ever win a stage of the Tour de France.
In 2000, Davis was diagnosed with Parkinson's and recently the symptoms became so disruptive that Davis underwent a surgery called deep brain stimulation. During the operation, Davis was wide awake with only local anesthetic because doctors needed to see how his body would respond to the electrical stimulation.
Surgeons installed a pacemaker inside his chest and wires run just under the skin up the side of his neck and into his brain, creating an electrical charge that has greatly reduced his symptoms.
"I'm sitting there, and I'm shaking and I'm so tense and rigid, because I've been off medicines the whole night," Davis said. "I'm so uncomfortable and then they hit the right setting, and my hand just stopped. It was like this wave of relief went whoosh. It was so wonderful."
After eight years of dealing with tremors and halting speech, the deep brain stimulation surgery has changed Davis' life, but he says the world might not have heard about his remarkable improvement if not for Taylor's success as a cyclist.
"What's been kind of nice is because of him, my story is getting a lot more exposure and therefore the disease is getting a lot more publicity," Davis said. "People are becoming more aware of Parkinson's than they ever would have. Not exactly like Lance (Armstrong), but a little bit similar to that, where you have a great sports story but it's tied to a human interest story and it's become a pretty big thing.
"I'm really gratified by the fact that my son, without him doing anything other than what he's choosing to do, is actually doing something to the benefit of the planet than just riding his bike fast," Davis said. "How many 17-year-olds can say that?"
Davis Phinney will be the official starter for the Bolder Boulder 10K on May 26.
Additional Resources - On Saturday, May 17, Davis Phinney will host the Road to Victory Bicycle Classic to raise money for Parkinson's research. The ride starts at the Boulder Beer Company at 7:30 a.m. Get more information about the event.
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