Support me as I stay active for 27 days to support those living with Parkinson's!
I'm back taking part in the 2023 27ForParkinson's Challenge to help raise funds for people living with Parkinson's - a progressive neurological condition that affects people from all walks of life.
With over 57,000 people in Victoria and 219,000 Nationally living with Parkinson's, your donation will make a difference to so many people.
For 27 days I will be staying active whether it be walking, running or just moving my body on behalf of the Parkinson's Community.
Will you help me make a difference? Every dollar raised has a lasting impact, so please make a donation to support my challenge.
My Achievements
Updated Photo
Updated Story
First Donation
Raised 27
Halfway to Target
Achieved Goal
My Updates
Day 23, 24, 25, 26
Thursday 26th OctYou’ve heard of kettle bells, now meet Y-Bells.
> Developed by a Sydney  personal trainer now entrepreneur who was looking for ways to reduce the number of exercise apparatus he would have to take to outdoor park boot camps.
> His answer was the Y-Bell, pictured below
>  I’ve downsized to an inner Melbourne apartment  and love the space saving, simplicity, and variety of exercises you can achieve with a Y-Bell
> Have fun doing your own research and deciding if they would be a good match for you
Monday
> Was slowing down after a busy weekend and focusing on mindfulness and light exercise with my Y-Bell’s
Tuesday
> Was a 12 hour elapsed day out of the home
- Left home at nine for PickleBall between 930 and 1130
- 1 hour of lunch and quiet time, then back to PickleBall for some advanced coaching for one hour
– Went to a local park to lie down in the sunshine and meditate before going to a friend’s place for 2 1/2 hours of social catchup and Italian tutoring
- Went to local Korean BBQ for a quiet dinner and mindfulness
– Before  heading off to an annual general meeting, then home by 9 pm
 The purpose of telling the long story above is,  I am fascinated by how we all can manage our energy levels and Parkinson’s symptoms.
-  Trust me I have plenty of days I just collapse in a heap and many afternoon naps
– But I found on long days if I plan solid breaks in between activities, and really focus on food intake and nutrition it’s amazing what can be achieved
> So, in summary;
- Having quiet time breaks to meditate and apply mindfulness.
- Stopping for lunch and dinner in good time
– Favourite snacks when it’s a busy day;
A handful only of pecan and Brazil nuts, hemp seeds, kombucha, 90% plus chocolate, banana, black coffee, a couple of meshjool dates, oh, and stay hydrated!
- And definitely no sugar…yes, even with heavy exercise (except a smidge obviously that is in the 90% chocolate, and the fructose in the medjool dates and banana)
>>>I’d love to know what works for others in revitalising and maintaining energy, especially on long, busy/active days<<<
Wednesday
> Was more of a rest and recuperate day, with gentle, stretching and yoga
Thursday
>  The rain this morning thwarted my attempt to cycle to my Italian lessons
>  So it’s been back to my fallback plan of Y-Bell and Yoga
Congrats to everyone, I can’t believe we’re at day 26 with one day to go 🤪🤗🤙
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Day 21 & 22
Thursday 26th OctA weekend of happiness with two of my community groups.
Saturday  was our monthly working-bee  at the community garden plot, CERES
- We are more in a maintenance phase with the gardens so it becomes more of a social, sharing of produce and a morning tea together
- I’m a bit pathetic pushing a wheelbarrow these days (I prefer a clutch, brake and accelerator), and weeding is much slower, but I am blessed to be out doing what I can, while receiving such wonderful support and care from fellow plotters 🥦🥔🥦🍓🌿🧄👨🌾
Sunday was my Pickleball club ‘Luck of the Draw’ mixed doubles competition.
Love this photo of the upper intermediate to advanced medallists - wonderful, the age range from 18 to 60+ that can get together and be competitive with each other.
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Day 18, 19, 20
Thursday 26th OctWednesday 18
> scooter to lunch with friends (wonderful taste of Halva -  middle eastern sesame seed delight).
>  scooter to garden plot to mulch and water in prep for our sunny days ahead
> last evening of the Italian film festival, with a good friend (‘il postino’ - a delightful, romantic comedy)
Thursday 19
>  scooter to Italian lessons and then, enjoyed the balmy evening  scootering to Thursday night darts
Friday 20
>  but by far, the highlight of the week is helping new recruits at PickleBall
> congratulations to Lorraine Ward who joined in today
>  we teamed up Lorraine with our secret weapon Mei
> to much surprise for Lorraine after the game, was to learn that Mei has Parkinson’s
> if you get a chance to meet Mei, she is very open in sharing with you her journey over the past decade before PickleBall, (and is happy for me to share the points below)
> Mei is a wonderfully sprightful 68 years young - this year she has been pllaying PickleBall five times a week on average (and is also a tango dancer)
>  she reports that after the positive effects of PickleBall, she can often spend a couple of hours in the garden
>  prior to PickleBall, she had been more housebound, and her life was very different.
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Day 17 Tuesday, PickleBall plus coaching
Tuesday 17th OctAwesome regular Tuesday morning PickleBall group for two hours.
Followed by week one of a six week advanced coaching drills, for another hour 🤪🤗🤙
🇻🇳Maintaining the holiday vibe with an afternoon Vietnamese iced coffee…🫢🤙
Pickleball Manningham
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Day 16 Evening scooter ride
Tuesday 17th OctIf you were like me on this rain day, I was cutting it fine to exercise today.
– Had an extended evening ride on my kick scooter, the long way to dinner. 🛴🤪🤗🤙
Btw,  I think the Empress Hotel makes potentially the best parma in Melbourne
-  Beautiful tender chicken in Panko crumbs, topped with authentic Italian sugo, mozzarella and prosciutto.
- The baked potatoes are garlic and aioli infused, with a side of refreshing coleslaw.
Day 15 ‘Connect & Rest’
Sunday 15th OctDay 15
Lol… as I read today’s daily challenge to ‘Connect & Rest’
- Quite a  coincident  that I spent a day in the Yarra Valley, with my cousin visiting from WA
- As for rest… I think I failed today’s challenge 🤪🤗😁🤙
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Day 12 & 13
Saturday 14th OctDay 12 & 13
Thursday morning was back to my regular Italian lessons…
Ieri ho avuto un'esperienza meravigliosa al Festival del cinema italiano. Abbiamo bevuto vino e formaggio con un buon amica. 🍷🧀🎟️🇮🇹📽️
Being a rain day accordingly, in the afternoon, I focused on meditation breathing exercises and yoga, to give me energy for the night activities.
Today being Friday was fantastic fun at PickleBall.
– Pictured here are three of our fellow Parky’s - we now have nine of us out of our 200+ membership base that play regularly.
- This evening, I went for a social game of bocce (modified game, using a mat with numbers as an exercise in improving accuracy), and part of a finals evening.
- My mate Paul and I ended up winning the social evening game – but as my trophy was a box of chocolates, (contraband for me), I passed it on to the runners up.
 I like to say ‘no’ to sugar.  The only sugar I generally have is in the occasional glass of red. 🤪🤗🤙
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Day 11
Wednesday 11th OctDay 11
Ditched the car in favour of pedal power - 18klm commute.
Oggi sono andato a pranzo al ristorante vietnamita in Victoria Street Richmond con gli amici del viaggio in Vietnam.
Ho mangiato Pho.
Sono andata a tagliarmi i capelli e poi in un bar a studiare italiano. 🇻🇳🍲💇🇮🇹
Learning a language is great for  exercising our neurons 🤗🤙
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Day 9 & 10 Pilates and PickleBall
Tuesday 10th OctDay 9 & 10
The Pilates session was a bit of a stretch for me – I’ve been a bit behind in my yoga regime as I’ve been nursing a left shoulder with bursitis-so yesterday was a good reminder of where I need to get back to.
After an epic marathon watching Oppenheimer last night, my legs were a little bit tight this morning before PickleBall.
I wanted to share with you this ‘Theragun’ handheld massage device. I’m not qualified to give advice, but for me, I find this massage gun really useful in providing relief when I can feel my quads and calves in particular, being extra tight.
So today I felt the need to use it before PickleBall,  during the breaks between games, and after the game. 🤪🤗🤙
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Day 8 Bike to Jazz party in the garden
Sunday 8th OctDay 8 …bike to a jazz concert in a friends front garden in Fitzroy, with spring planting and delectable preserves for sale.
Beautiful sunny day, perfect hosts that keep up the local community vibe 🤪🤗🤙T
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Day 7 Bocce, and dinner
Sunday 8th OctDay seven for me has been a social day out and about with various community groups I’m involved in, culminating in an annual Bocce challenge  between my Italian car club.
 Community is so important… I have found it to be the secret ingredient to living a happy life.
One of my key pillars in life is ‘community’ - building and participating in community
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Day 6 new recruit to Pickleball
Sunday 8th OctDay 6 …great to have John Wijsma join in the fun that is PickleBall.
John has great hand-eye coordination and took to it like a duck to water.
Hey Emma Collin, don’t panic, but the challenge will be on next Friday with John vowing to return.
Oh, did I mention that we two Parky‘s (John and I) teamed up to beat Claude and Teresa, (in what was John’s first ever game).
We also have places for a few more to join in next Friday and the following.
 Thanks for being a great sport, John - it wasn’t such a pickle after all🤪😆🙃🤙
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Day 5 mindfulness, and yoga
Sunday 8th OctDay 5  is great for me as I get to showcase my normal routine of meditation, morning yoga, in my sacred spot, combined with my tea ceremony and nourishing breakfast.
Do you have a favourite morning routine?
#nourishyourself #yourmitochondriawillthankyou
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Day 4 Breathe… jog, walk, run
Wednesday 4th OctToday was about mindfulness and slowing down to breathe.
So I took the opportunity for a slow jog walk, run to my favourite mountain to take in the breathtaking, scenery and chill.
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Day 3 wet day
Tuesday 3rd Oct Phewww, just as well it was my regular indoor Pickleball morning on a wet day.Great to see Dr Andrew Harkin’s exercise drill to be also indoor based.
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Day 2 was a peaceful scooter ride along the river
Monday 2nd Oct A peaceful scooter ride along the Merri Creek, to my garden plot – harvested, a most awesome sized organic leek.To complete my ‘non-car day’, I scooted to Coles with backpack for a weekly shop
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Day 1 PickleBall Happiness 🤙
Monday 2nd OctAwesome day one which coincided with my regular pickle ball.
Looking forward to mixing it up each day, and for day two I’ll tune in to Dr Andrew Harkin for a facilitated routine.
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27 is the magic number 🤗🤙
Saturday 30th SepSo
A few weeks back in Vietnam, I had time to visualise all the fun things I could get up to during our 27forParkinson's challenge.
- Right now, just walking 270m is a challenge 🤪
- Have a close look at the dates for the Italian Film Festival, and a quick calculation will show that it runs for 27 days, and there happens to be 27 movies showing…( okay so I enjoy, quirky, coincidences).
The fun starts tomorrow - my key objective is to be out and about doing something each day, whether it be joining in the activities facilitated by this years Osteo Dr Andrew Harkin, or; playing pickle ball, planting 27 brussels sprouts in my community garden plot, running for 2.7 km, or riding my bike to Westgarth cinema to see one of the 27 movies as part of the Italian Film Festival.🥾⛰️🛴🚴🎥
My October challenge https://www.27forparkinsons.org.au/fundraisers/trevorprasad campaign
Fight Parkinson's
> I had an awesome time last year campaigning to help those (like myself) living with Parkinson's
> Whether you are directly or indirectly affected by Parkinson's, or have an affinity for those living with neurological conditions, please feel free to participate in any manner that makes sense for you, whether it be by donation, or following the link below to join in the fundraising campaign (you don't have to have Parkinson's to join in), or by simply following my journey throughout October - all support is greatly appreciated
I look forward to joining in the camaraderie this year. 🤪🤙
Come join in the fun: https://www.27forparkinsons.org.au
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Getting ready…;)
Wednesday 6th Sep October is fast approaching, and I’m taking opportunity while in Vietnam on a fantastic adventure to start my preparation.- today was an awesome day, climbing 500 steps to “The Lying Dragon” in Ninh Binh.
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Thank you to my Sponsors
$105.50
Greg Pelly
$105.50
Trevor Prasad
$100
Glenn Morrison
$100
T Gosling
Always happy to support your endeavors Trevor! Inspired by your tenacity and great human spirit. Best always, Trace 😘
$100
Lina Romero
Go Trevor !
$79.13
Manny Vassal
$55.92
Susanna Palomares
Well done Trevor very proud of you love your discipline and routines and eating habits
$31.65
Tim
Congrats on your fantastic efforts mate
$30
James Papadopoulos
$28.49
Tina
Go well Trevor!
$28.49
Daimon Brunton
You’re an inspiration Trevor!!
$28.49
Jean Karifa
Hi Trevor, this is Yinka. From Jazz lab...it was a pleasure meeting you and herung about your story.
$20
Sally
You're a wonderful inspiration, Trevor!
Great work mate