A new organisation is fundraising to build a dedicated wellness centre to help those with neurological conditions. Photo: Joesph Johnson
Simon Challies started to notice symptoms four or five years before his diagnosis. He would go running in Hagley Park at lunch and his right leg would go weak.
Challies, the former managing director of Ryman Healthcare, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease – a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement – in 2011 when he was 41.
But it took six years before he sought contact with other people with the disease, or a related support group.
"There's lots of people like me who are ... in fear and just hide away."
The number of Cantabrians with neurological conditions like Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and dementia is expected to double by 2040, reaching 30,000 people – about the population of Timaru.
Challies stood down from Ryman in 2017, but his illness has inspired a new project: New Zealand's first wellness centre.
The BrainTree centre – being developed by the Canterbury Brain Collective, a joint venture by Dementia Canterbury and Multiple Sclerosis & Parkinson's Canterbury – will house both organisations and other groups that support people to live well with neurological conditions.
It will feature a gym, yoga and dance studio, seminar rooms, a whole foods cafe and a meeting place. It has been designed to encourage people to live well with their conditions and adopt healthy lifestyle choices.
Because people with neurological disorders can be reluctant to talk about it or seek out information, the centre has been designed to be a welcoming, appealing place.
"I think it's got the potential to change people's lives," Challies said.
After his diagnosis, he went to the United States to see a specialist for a second opinion and advice.
"In his experience, the people who live the best with these conditions are the people who eat super healthy, physically challenge themselves, mentally challenge themselves, keep up the social contact and get good sleep," Challies said.
The 50-year-old goes walking in the hills two or three times a week, does yoga and follows a gluten-free and mostly plant-based diet.
After leaving Ryman (a job that came with long hours and a lot of responsibility), Challies found he was less stressed and, while living well, he could reduce the amount of medication he was taking to manage the disorder.
"I think that's the biggest thing I've discovered, that medication is only part of the solution. Actually looking after yourself and living well can make as much impact, if not more."
About $2.5 million has been raised for the project in the past three or four weeks, about half of what is needed to go ahead with the purchase of a property on Langdons Rd, Papanui, Challies said. The total cost will be more than $6m and the collective expects to start a public appeal in the next few months.
Subject to meeting the fundraising targets, construction is set to begin this year and the centre is due to open in 2021.
Dr Matthew Croucher, a national leader in the dementia sector who works for the Canterbury District Health Board, said dementia illnesses, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis were all much more likely to occur as people got older.
"Because the community in Canterbury is becoming older on average – quite rapidly – all these conditions are becoming more common as a percentage of the whole community."
Oliver Lewis 14:00, Mar 03 2020