By Dongyun Kwon
A pilates instructor and her client are pulling together to host a special pilates session for a good cause.
Yarra Valley-based pilates instructor Vicky Kamakaris and her client Penny Napoleone both have lost a parent to Parkinson’s disease.
As Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month (April) is just around the corner, the pair came up with an idea to support Shake It Up, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to funding groundbreaking Parkinson’s research to slow, stop and cure the condition.
Ms Napoleone said pilates is ideal for the disease sufferers if they could manage it.
“Exercise is the only known activity to assist in slowing the progression of Parkinson’s disease,” she said.
“Medications only provide symptomatic relief.”
Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time.
The first symptom may be a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand, sometimes a foot or the jaw.
But the disorder also may cause stiffness, slowing of movement and trouble with balance that raises the risk of falls.
In Australia, it affects 200,000 people with 38 people diagnosed every day.
Ms Kamakaris’ dad passed away from Parkinson’s in 2022 after battling with it for 15 years.
The pilates instructor said she and her family couldn’t visit her dad, who was staying in a nursing home, for the last two years of his life because of the Covid lockdown.
“Even on his birthday, we (celebrated) it through the glass. We went to the windows, and they wheeled him up to the windows, and we sang happy birthday through the windows,” Ms Kamakaris said.
“Dad was a really intelligent person, and cognitively he was still okay at the end.
“First he couldn’t walk, then he couldn’t eat, he couldn’t swallow. So in the end, he couldn’t even smile, like all those muscles just atrophy so much that he couldn’t use any of them.
“But inside, he was still the same, like his brain was still working, which was the worst part of it for us.”
Ms Napoleone lost her mum to Parkinson’s in 2023.
Her mum suffered from the disease for 14 years.
She said it’s such a horrific, debilitating disease to watch someone go through.
“My father became my mother’s carer, and we kept her home as long as we could. Thankfully, I just lived close by and supported them as much as I could,” Ms Napoleone said.
“But to watch their physical ability just waste away… my mum ended up nonverbal. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t feed herself.
“She did end up in aged care, but the actual pain and suffering emotionally for not only her but for loved ones is beyond it, you can’t explain it, it’s very hard.”
The special fundraiser Pilates 4 Parkinsons will take place from 10am to 12pm on Saturday 26 April at Punt Road Wines, Coldstream.
The pilates session will start at 10.30am followed by a glass of bubbles and nibbles.
“100 per cent of all donations go straight to Shake It Up, and they will use it for research,” Ms Napoleone said.
For more information about the fundraiser in Coldstream, please visit parkinsons-awareness-month-2025.raiselysite.com/pilates4parkinsons
The pair are encouraging the community to host their own P-themed fundraiser (pancakes, prosecco, puppies for Parkinson’s) and raise vital funds for Parkinson’s research.
To host an event, please visit shakeitup.org.au
