A Windsor boxing club is helping deliver a "knockout" punch to Parkinson's Disease.
The Border City Club on Drouillard Rd. is launching the Rock Steady Boxing program to help people with the disease reduce or eliminate their symptoms.
A $7,500 donation from Caesars Windsor Cares allowed the coaches to get the necessary training and to make upgrades to the Drouillard Rd. facility.
Club owner Josh Canty says the program was developed in Indianapolis and the results can be remarkable.
"The same drills and techniques and hard work that we employ in boxing with our athletes in terms of agility, drills, speed, hand-eye coordination, power, flexibility these are all things people with Parkinson's need to work on because they're losing those skills," says Canty.
He says it's amazing to see people's lives change.
"We see that they're able to pick up their grandchildren, able to drive their vehicles and are able to do the things that give them their lives back. For years we've been helping kids get medals and trophies and championships at the club, now we're able to help people not only with their physical well being, but with their psychological well being."
Canty says a retired University of Windsor professor he's known for years and who was diagnosed with Parkinson's was their first try at using the program.
Since then, seven more people have participated.
--With files from AM800's Teresinha Medeiros