One Billings man has found his treatment plan especially helpful, as he's been able to literally fight back against his symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.
Part of Dan Merry's therapy includes a weekly class called Rock Steady Boxing, a specialized class for those battling the disease.
Watch Dan Merry's fight below:
"The stimulation of the nerves keeps these nerves active in your legs and in your arms," said Merry.
Seeing him boxing, you wouldn't know that Merry was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease three years ago.
It’s boxing classes that were exactly what his doctor ordered.
"When you first get the diagnosis, you kind of wonder what's going to happen. It's like any other disease. What you hear is always the worst-case scenario," said Merry.
And while it hasn’t been easy to get here, proper medication and just keeping his body moving are making all the difference.
"I tell the patient that if they don't do that part, it is very difficult to treat because then I don't see much improvement, and when they come back, I have to increase the medications," said Intermountain Health neurologist Arturo Echeverri.
Luckily, Merry listened to his doctor.
"Participating in these programs will help, and the level of help that they're going to give depends on how involved the individual is. It's like anything else, the more you put in, the more you get out," Merry said.
Merry got something else back, too. His voice.
"I was not speaking loud enough. I thought I was yelling. Abby made it very clear that I wasn't. So, she has a decibel reader, and when you go through the exercises, she'll say, 'Okay, come on, louder.' You have to project," Merry said.
While Merry speaks loud and clear now, that wasn't the case when he was first diagnosed with Parkinson's.
"They lose their ability to engage in those functions. So, then they have to pivot to intent. They have to be very purposeful with their actions. So, speech therapy helps them engage their systems again. It helps them coordinate their vocal production, their breathing, and their ability to swallow," said Abby Etter, a speech-language pathologist at Intermountain Health.
