He's biking across the country to raise awareness for Parkinson's all without leaving his garage - Action News
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He's biking across the country to raise awareness for Parkinson's all without leaving his garage

Mount Pearl resident Robert Emberly is virtually cycling across Canada to raise awareness for Parkinson's disease.

Patients waiting 3 to 4 years for diagnosis in N.L., according to Parkinson's Society

A person stands on a bicycle which sits on rollers and is surrounded by a wooded stand.
Using a homemade stationary bike, Robert Emberly is virtually riding across the country. (Darrell Roberts/CBC)

Robert Emberly says he's always been a free spirit.

That didn't change when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2010.

At the time, the Mount Pearl, N.L.,resident worked on the Terra Nova FPSO, which services the Terra Nova oil field, about 350 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland.

"I started standing on one foot on the moving vessel every day, and I practiced how to ... keep my balance," he said in an interview with The St. John's Morning Show.

Parkinson's affects the nervous system,including movement, balance and speech.

Losing his sense of balance has made cycling one of his favourite pastimes much more difficult, but he was determined to find a way to stay on the saddle.

Emberly announced that he was going to learn to ride a unicycle, an idea quickly shot down by his friends and family. Instead, he decided to repeat a feat he accomplished in the 1970s cycling across the island of Newfoundland.

A faded photo of four people on bikes.
Robert Emberly, second from right, biked across Newfoundland in the 1970s. He decided to repeat the feat virtually using a stationary bike. (Submitted by Robert Emberly)

This time, though, he did it in his garage, using a homemade stationary bike contraption and an odometer. When he reached that goal, he decided he wasn't done.

"I decided I'm going to try going across Canada," he said.

Fast forward four years later, and Emberly is virtually in Langley, British Columbia, with about 80 kilometres to go until he finishes his journey.

He's had setbacks. A surgery put him out of commission for part of the summer, and some days he could only ride for a few minutes before he began feeling fatigued. Still, he pushed on.

"I'd sooner do that than die. You gotta do something in life," he said.

He has Parkinsons disease, but hes biking across Canada from his garage in Mount Pearl

19 days ago
Duration 3:08
Robert Emberly has been living with Parkinson's disease for 15 years. The neurological condition affects your balance, and cycling became hard for the Mount Pearl resident. So Emberly set up a stationary bike with built-in precautions in his garage to complete the 7,000-kilometre virtual trek across the country, vowing not to let the disease get the better of him.

3 to 4 year wait for Parkinson's diagnosis in N.L.

According to the ParkinsonSociety of Newfoundland and Labrador, exercise can help slow the progression of Parkinson's. Derek Staubitzer,the society's executive director, said Emberly is a testament to what Parkinson's patients can accomplish.

"You don't have to give up. You might have Parkinson's but Parkinson's doesn't have to have you," he said.

LISTEN | Robert Emberly has 80 km to go on his virtual cross-Canada bike ride:

The society facilitates exercise classes and other treatments for people living with the disease.

Staubitzer said one major hurdle to accessing treatment, though, is getting a diagnosis in the first place.

"We currently have a three-to four-year wait for a diagnosis for Parkinson's," he said. "That is really unacceptable and we're trying to address that to bring that down."

A person wearing a blazer and tie stands in front of a sign for the Parkinson's Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Derek Staubitzer, executive director of the Parkinson's Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, said patients are waiting years for a Parkinson's diagnosis. (Darrell Roberts/CBC)

CBC News has asked N.L. Health Services for comment on the wait times.

Staubitzer said those long wait times are happening as more people are being diagnosed with the disease nationally.

"We're seeing that here in Newfoundland and Labrador. The number of calls that we're getting has increased dramatically since I started here 10 years ago," he said.

Emberly wants to increase awareness of the disease and push back against stereotypes.

"Parkinson's is no longer a wait and die disease," he explained. "Younger and younger people are getting it. And these young people are realizing that life isn't over."

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