When you speak to Bob Preston about his most recent boat journey spanning more than 5,100 miles from Rhode Island where he lives down to Florida and the surrounding chain of islands, you gain insight into the man at the helm of his 48-foot Sabre. Bob is adventurous, fearless, smart, funny, thoughtful and philosophical. He's also an individual who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in July 2007 at age 49. Since then he has chosen to tackle the disease head on, raising public awareness and funding for the American Parkinson Disease Association and the local Rhode Island chapter, while also showing by example all those with any type of chronic illness not to let it take control over who you are and what you can do. Bob walks the walk.Co-founder of the Preston Insurance Alliance in East Greenwich, Rhode Island where he built and ran a successful agency for nearly 30 years, Bob sold the firm in 2007. He had 44 employees and 6,000 clients with 80% of his premium volume coming from commercial lines. When he learned of his illness after being symptomatic for two years, he took the same competitive spirit that made his agency such a success out on the road and high seas to live his life and help others. "If I could get one person to look at his or her condition, whatever illness they may have, more objectively and with a more positive outlook, I would be happy," said Bob. "It turns out that I've had hundreds of opportunities to do just that during the course of these eight years."
What's even more inspiring is that Bob wouldn't trade his life with any other person in the world. "My whole attitude is that I'm not going to just survive, I'm going to thrive," explained Bob. "You have to do your best and go and live in the moment. Don't focus on the past or the future. The past is history and the future a mystery - you can't control either one of them. But you can control living in the moment and most obstacles will melt away when we make up our mind to walk through them. Everyone has stuff to deal with in life, this is mine. I am not going to let Parkinson's control my life, I am going to control it."
In fact, being diagnosed with Parkinson's made Bob rethink life and living. "I was always super competitive, so I refocused my drive to fight the disease and not let Parkinson's get the best of me."
Bob's 5,175-mile cruise is his third journey and well chronicled on his blog: Optimism Can Take You Anywhere. He left in September and returned back to Rhode Island in May for a total of 233 days out on the seas with Becky, his co-captain and wife of 33 years. "The support from my family and friends is immeasurable," said Bob. He has two children and a grandchild who provide him with strength and lots of humor. "We joke about Parkinson's to bring levity to the situation, and it's a way of taking the disease on." Bob's own humor and love for his wife is evident as he relays a moment that comes up when talking about his journey at fundraising events: "People always say, ‘Bob, your wife is a real saint.' I wish though at least once someone would say, ‘I don't know how you can put up with Becky'. Someone in the crowd will invariably respond, ‘This will never happen, Bob, you'll never hear those words.'"
Bob's boat trips are great for his own well being, a way to attract attention to Parkinson's and its effect on 1.5 million who have the disease, and to demonstrate the power of having an optimistic outlook when afflicted with any type of chronic illness. To date, Bob has raised north of $260,000 for Parkinson's.
"Parkinson's is a very idiosyncratic disease, explained Bob with everyone afflicted differently. One doesn't know how it will progress in each individual. It's hard to diagnose as there are 20 different symptoms, which will vary in each person in terms of the number of symptoms they have and their severity." In Bob's case, he lost his ability to write. When I asked him how he types his "Optimism" blog, he responded with a laugh, "very slowly and with a lot of patience."
Bob's positive outlook and philosophy is reflected in one of his favorite poems, "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
"You have to live in the moment, and roll with the punches, that's what I try to do. I don't think about the bad things coming tomorrow. I enjoy what I'm doing now and adapt very well to changing conditions. So far it's worked out well," said Bob, as he heads off to his celebratory welcome home party.
If you would like to donate to help find a cure for Parkinson's, please visit: www.riapda.org (Rhode Island chapter) or www.apdaparkinson.org (national American Parkinson Disease Association).