Running on Empty

At the age of sixty, and having lived with Parkinson's disease for over ten years, Guy Deacon CBE set out to drive 18,000 miles solo from his home in the UK to the southern tip of Africa. At the age of sixty, and having lived with Parkinson's disease for over ten years, Guy Deacon CBE set out on one last adventure: to drive solo from his home in the UK 18,000 miles and through twenty-five countries to Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa. This incredible journey, across Europe and down the full length of Africa, took the former British Army officer over twelve months. Along the way, he broke down five times, underwent one emergency evacuation, and took 3,650 prescription pills. There are only a handful of vehicles each year which attempt this difficult journey; many never complete it. Ongoing conflicts in Libya, South Sudan, Mozambique and many other countries make any journey exceptionally dangerous. In central Africa, road conditions, particularly in the rainy season, often make the going treacherous. Further hazards include illegal checkpoints, extortion, contaminated fuel and a lack of services. Guy drove, lived and slept in his VW Transporter, often in remote spots, hundreds of miles from the nearest village or town. Reliant on patchy GPS, he often got lost. His journey was, quite simply, an incredible feat by a man travelling alone with Stage 3 Parkinson's disease, when simply putting on a pair of shoes can take half an hour. But not only did Guy's journey fulfil a childhood dream to drive the length of Africa, his mission was also to raise global awareness of Parkinson's disease, for which there is currently still no cure. AUTHOR: Guy Deacon CBE joined the British Army in 1985. He was awarded a CBE for his work. Guy was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2010, but carried on working until the age of 57; he now has Stage 3 Parkinson's. As an ambassador for the Cure Parkinson's Trust and Parkinson's Africa, Guy has visited twenty-five African countries to spotlight the issues associated with Parkinson's disease in Africa. Guy lives in Dorset with his wife and their dog.