Pints for Parkinson’s
When Vikas Chinnan decided to fundraise for the non-profit Ping Pong for Good, he knew exactly where he wanted to hold his event, Out of the Barrel, a new bar that opened this past August in San Carlos. It was Vikas’s favorite place to hang out.
“I happen to be a fan of beer,” says Chinnan. “And so I was like, oh, I’d love to do a Pints for Parkinson’s. I knew it would draw a lot of my friends because they’re all beer drinkers too.”
On November 30, Chinnan invited friends and family to do just that, buy some pints, win some prizes, and fundraise. Chinnan was inspired by a Pints for Parkinson’s event he heard of in Sacramento and chose to fundraise for Ping Pong for Good, a non-profit that uses ping-pong to optimize brain and body health, particularly for those with Parkinson’s Disease.
Ping Pong for Parkinson’s
Outside the bar, two ping pong tables were set up for people to play. Inside, the TV showed the Seattle vs. Dallas football game. A list of artisanal California beers was displayed right behind the bar. The venue was packed with people, friends, and family of Chinnan, just like a bar should be.
Chinnan was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease, a neurodegenerative brain disease for which there is no cure, in February of 2022. One of the most obvious symptoms of Parkinson’s is a tremor, which he first noticed in his right arm in August of 2021. However, there were other indicators including some cognitive decline, apathy, depression, and most prominently an issue with his gait. “When I first started getting symptoms, I assumed that it was just years of asymmetry of gait catching up with me,” he says.
Chinnan’s story
Chinnan is referring to the impaired gait he has lived with since 7th grade, when he developed a viral infection in his spinal cord that left him with not only a limp but also gait and mobility issues. “The stiffness that I could easily walk off in 20 steps or so was just not going away.”
He started visiting physical therapists and neurologists, giving the medical professionals his health history and mentioning his spinal cord infection. But it was only when Chinnan developed a tremor and was told by his cousin, a neurologist, to see a Movement Disorder Specialist, a neurologist with advanced training in movement disorders, that some progress was made.
A clinical exam and one DaTscan later, Chinnan was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease. It took six months to schedule an appointment for the DaTscan, a type of imaging that measures dopamine in the brain.
The benefit of DaTscans
DaTscans are not always used to help diagnose PD, especially when individuals are past age 60, but when an individual is under the age of 50, a DaTscan can provide additional information along with the results of the traditional clinical exam used in diagnosis.
After his diagnosis, Chinnan started reaching out, networking, and exercising to slow the progression of the disease. “On February 5, I got diagnosed and on February 9, I went boxing. My immediate response was, let’s delay the progression, get active, get more active than I am already, and then be involved in my own care.”
Telling family and friends
Chinnan was wondering how to break the news to friends and family. A few weeks after joining Rock Steady Boxing Peninsula, representatives from the Parkinson’s Foundation visited the boxing gym. A walkathon supporting the Parkinson’s Foundation was a good way to raise funds, Chinnan thought. It was also “a good way to announce to the world that I have Parkinson’s,” he says. He has been fundraising ever since.
Almost 100 friends and family members joined Chinnan for the Parkinson’s Foundation’s Moving Day in Atlanta, where Chinnan is originally from. He has also raised funds for not only the Davis Phinney Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation but also started https://parkyresource.org/, a site, still in progress, to share local resources for those diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
Chinnan’s fundraiser, which brought in around $2,000, helps support Ping Pong for Good’s program in the Bay Area and reduces the costs for people with Parkinson’s Disease. The pilot program launched in August and classes are held at 888 TTC, a state-of-the-art facility in Burlingame with some of the world’s top table tennis professionals on staff. Two of those coaches were on hand on November 30, taking guests through the paces and basics of ping pong.
Out of the Barrel Turnout
Chinnan’s ability to fundraise and inspire was evident by the turnout at Out of the Barrel. “I wanted this space to be a community gathering with great beer to support it,” says bar owner Evan Jacques. “It wasn’t a question if we would support but how we would support him.”
Part of the fundraising fun included a raffle where the prizes were a T-shirt, a mug, a Ping Pong for Good cap, or a $30 gift card to Taproom.
Chinnan retired recently to focus on Parkinson’s Disease advocacy. Everyone’s got a superpower says Chinnan, things that they do better than anyone else. “Mine is connecting people and putting goodwill out there. And so if I’ve done anything, right, in my 47 years of existence, I put a lot of goodwill out in the world. And it’s coming back in spades, now that I need help.”
