If you had told Bill Sloan that he would be living with the effects of Parkinson’s disease 15 years ago, he would have laughed. Despite the surprise setback, and only a few years after his diagnosis in 2008, he stands out as one of Parkinson Society Canada’s (PSC) most vocal and valued volunteers, having helped raise thousands in support of the disease in this year alone.

The area resident, now 49, worked for a top-tier auto parts manufacturer before he began showing symptoms of the degenerative nervous disorder, which affects motor and cognitive functions. To counteract its physical effects, Sloan began running, swimming and practising yoga.

In 2011, Sloan ran in the Blue Mountain Half Marathon in Collingwood, just to see if he could finish. He did — third to last — but said the experience proved a point.

“You know, you finish what you start,” he said. “It’s humbling, but if I walked off that course, I could never get that back.”

However, Sloan emphasized he has his understanding wife and two daughters to thank the most for the freedom to re-establish his life, every step of the way.

After being pushed into retirement in 2009, the self-described Type A personality, Sloan first volunteered by selling tulips for donations during PSC’s annual Hope in Bloom tulip campaign. As in every year since, this April, Sloan’s team sold every flower it had, to raise $3,300. Running last month’s Sporting Life 10K race, he raised another $1,450.

Sloan is now transferring his unstoppable spirit into giving back as a “buddy coordinator” for the World Parkinson Congress where he will  “buddy up” diagnosed Canadians with other people from around the world. The international conference will take place in Montreal this October.