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The Running Man: Jimmy Choi continues to outrun Parkinson’s disease

October 29, 2015

Jimmy Choi at the Chicago Marathon 2015 (Michael J. Fox Foundation/Runner’s World)

A Korean American marathon runner with Parkinson’s disease is out to give hope to others out there like him.

Jimmy Choi, 39, a Chicago resident, has run nearly 2,000 miles this year despite the condition, and completed 53 half marathons and eight marathons, according to Runner’s World.

He’s not done just yet — just two weeks off the Chicago Marathon, he’ll have another go at the run in New York City.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Team Fox, a research organization for Parkinson’s disease, has seen about $40,000 raised through Choi’s marathons.

He told Runner’s World he thinks running has helped him “turn back the clock” on the disease in the last three years.

Choi was diagnosed in 2003. Before then, he had played basketball, football and wrestling in high school.

The disease had him walking with a cane by the time he was 36. Searching for a cure, he happened upon an article about a runner with Parkinson’s and thought, “If he can do it, why can’t I do it?”, he told the magazine.

Choi ran his first marathon in April 2012.

For the New York Marathon, Choi will join seven other runners who are suffering from Parkinson’s.