King youngster is top fundraiser for Parkinson’s

July 30, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

At just nine years old, Nat Bannister has made it his mission to help find a cure for Parkinson’s. This summer the young Nobleton resident, along with his dad Doug, have worked hard and took on the challenge of participating in “Pedaling for Parkinson’s.”
On July 12, the two traveled to Parry Sound for the annual event where they cycled a total of 370 kilometres over the course of a weekend.
The idea behind the event is that participants do a pedal stroke for every Canadian with Parkinson’s.
Nat raised the most money of any other participant, collecting an incredible $11,000 thus far and is still collecting pledges for the cause.
The target for this year’s ride was $75,000, but riders managed to net a whopping $95,000 for Parkinson’s research.
The cause is specifically important to them as Nat’s grandpa was diagnosed with Parkinson’s last year. Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that currently has no cure.
Nat spends a lot of time with his grandfather and was enthusiastic about participating and helping to find a cure for Parkinson’s and when Doug found out about the ride and put it to his son, Nat took no time to reply, “Is that even a question?”
“As an active cyclist I had looked for Parkinson’s fundraising rides in the Toronto area but hadn’t found any,” Doug said in an interview a few weeks before the event. “I discovered that Peter Istvan, a friend of my brother’s, along with David Newell had created a small, homegrown ride in his home town of Parry Sound called ‘Pedaling for Parkinson’s’ to raise money and create awareness.”
The ride, in its third year, had cyclists flocking to Parry Sound from all over.
Nat said it was a tough ride, but was prepared for it after weeks of training leading up.
“The hills were tough and it was really challenging,” he said.
In a previous interview, Nat expressed a large amount of enthusiasm in going to the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame while visiting Parry Sound. When they returned from the ride, he had quite a story about an encounter he had.
While out for dinner over the weekend in Parry Sound, Nat and Doug bumped into the hockey legend himself.
“It was more just kind of a starstruck, ‘hi Mr. Orr’ and he shook his hand and we got his autograph, so that was a good start to the weekend,” Doug said.
“As it turned out, Bobby Orr signed a big photo of him scoring ‘the goal’ and donated it to the Parkinson’s Ride. Nat as the lead fundraiser won that picture, so not only did he get his hat signed, shake his hand and go to the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame, he ended up collecting the signed photo of him as well.”
“It was pretty cool,” Nat said.
Although the event had concluded for this summer, pledges will continue to be collected. Nat was also eager to acknowledge his supporters and said he is raring to go for next year.
“A big thank-you to all the sponsors and support,” he said. “I’m going to keep riding until they find a cure.”
To support Nat and his goal, visit bit.ly/NatRides.