Mike Tindall Talks About Watching His Father ‘Deteriorate’ From Parkinson’s

Mike Tindall, the grandson-in-law to Queen Elizabeth and former Rugby player, is opening up about his father’s battle with Parkinson’s.

Tindall, who is married to Princess Anne’s daughter Zara, is prepping to cycle 12,000 feet uphill as part of the Raid Local event in aid of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust.

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Ahead of the event, Tindall spoke to the Daily Mail about watching his dad suffer from the disease for 17 years.  “Over the last few years, I’ve really seen him deteriorate,” he said.

Tindall is patron of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, which he hopes will help ensure others don’t have to watch loved ones deteriorate.

“It’s about other sons and daughters not having to see their dad go through what I’ve seen mine go through,” he said.

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The event typically takes place in the Alps but was switched to the U.K. after coronavirus delays. Tindall has been prepping near his home in Gloucestershire.

View this post on Instagram

CPT RAID LOCAL Raid Local – raising altitude and funds for curative research Excitingly, just 7 days after our launch, nearly 100 riders have committed to take on Raid Local in the UK, France, Italy and the virtual world of Zwift, and we have raised over £150,000. These numbers are climbing daily, like our riders in training. The event follows the success of last year's Raid Pyrenean event. This year, 44 supporters of The Cure Parkinson's Trust were due to take on the legendary Raid Alpine in 6 days (a gruelling 800km and 19,000m vertical), from Sunday 28 June. With that event cancelled and the charity losing significant income due to COVID-19, Myself, CPT Ambassador Iain Balshaw MBE and many others are taking Day 1 of Raid Alpine to their local routes, starting and finishing near (or in) their own homes on 28 June. The challenge will be local, socially-distanced but still very, very tough: 137km and 3700m vertical in one day. The Zwift option may eclipse all of this – Zwift are dedicating bespoke support and publicity to us, which has just become realistic yesterday. Full Website and JustGiving detail is below. Myself and CPT would love for many more to get involved. Anyone interested should email grace@cureparkinsons.org.uk as the first step.

A post shared by @ mike_tindall12 on Jun 16, 2020 at 2:04am PDT

Tindall confirmed in a post that the event has already raised $200,000 with at least 100 riders taking part.