Bill Shughart hits a bag at RockSteady Boxing on Friday in Logan.

Bill Shughart hits a bag at RockSteady Boxing on Friday in Logan.

Professor William Shughart glances at the time, 10:40 a.m. “I’m going to have to start eating my lunch here,” he says. “I’ve got class at 12.”

He grabs his bag from 7-Eleven and pulls out a turkey sandwich with some grapes. Both are encased in plastic containers. The sandwich is relatively easy to open, but the grapes present a challenge for him, a small plastic tab. The lack of “nimbleness” in his fingers makes it difficult to grab a hold of.

Shughart was diagnosed with Parkinsonism six years ago.

“I was noticing I was having trouble balancing and stuff like that,” Shughart says.

Neither Parkinson’s disease nor Parkinsonism have one overarching test to diagnose someone, according to parkinson.org. Rather, a doctor (often a neurologist) will look through a patient’s medical history and look for active symptoms such as tremors, poor balance, mumbling, loss of awareness, stiffness and shuffling of the feet. The two afflictions are very similar in how they manifest. Parkinsonism is differentiated due to it often being a group of neurological disorders, instead of just one.

Pharmaceutical treatment? Effective at times but typically only temporarily.

Mitigation of these symptoms? Hard to come by but not impossible.

Research on the disease lists physical activity as one of the leading ways to stave off the inevitability of the disease. This is what ultimately led Shughart to RockSteady boxing in Logan.

In the unfinished basement of The Worx Outpatient Therapy and Fitness, RockSteady boxing is employing a full-body and mental training regimen for those with Parkinson’s or Parkinsonism.

Michelle Harmon, the administrator of the outpatient clinic, understands the relentlessness of Parkinson’s. She also sees the fruits of the boxers’ labor on a near-daily basis.

“It’s not going to reverse anything, but they can get better,” Harmon says.

The workout is similar to what you might expect from professional or amateur boxers, but the similarities end there.

A professional boxer enters a match aware of three potential outcomes for the ensuing fight, with most expecting the best of those outcomes. Winning. They also understand even in the face of defeat or a draw, they’ll live to fight another day.

For those with Parkinson’s and Parkinsonism, there is no winning the fight — only prolonging it, in hopes of an improved quality of life. With this one fight being their first and last.

This does not stop the clients of RockSteady, nor coach Cassie Webster, from giving 110% and having a good attitude while they do it.

Joyce Bayles is adamant about the intensity her and the other boxers bring to the gym each day.

“One of the most frustrating things is when people say ‘Oh how cute,’” Bayles says. “We are working hard when we come here.”

“It’s more than a class,” Webster said in a prior interview. “We say we’re family and we mean it. I was sick on Monday and I had three boxers text me to see if I was okay.”

As the rest of boxers arrive for their class, Webster greets them, asking them how they have been feeling and what they’ve done since the last time they saw each other.

They begin stretching for the ensuing workout. Their mobility isn’t the same as it once was, but it’s still much better than it was before attending classes at RockSteady. The break RockSteady boxers had to take when COVID-19 hit truly showed just how unrelenting Parkinson’s can be when nothing is being done to combat it.

Even though it was only a three- to four-month break for most of the boxers, some declined so much they never made it back. Many of those who did come back have still not returned to the form they were in before the pandemic.

“That’s my story,” Shughart said. “That period of time was not very happy for anyone.”

After stretching, it’s time for the real workout.

Each station set up around the room forces the boxers to focus on different muscle groups, as well as cognitive abilities. One station requires boxers to hit a heavy bag with a certain combination, sit down, stand up and repeat the combination.

Jab. Jab. Cross. Hook. Sit down.

Or was it hook, hook, uppercut, uppercut?

The bell rings, time to move on.

The next station requires the boxers to “be big” and spell out the entire alphabet using both arms. They are also encouraged to say the letters out loud, as loud as they can. “Being big and loud” is something Webster asks of the boxers in every drill.

“Boxing!” the boxers reply in unison.

As the boxers rotate, one of them has to take a break because of some dizziness. Webster checks on the boxer momentarily and goes back to leading the class. There’s no shame in this room; everyone simply keeps moving along.

The hour-long workout eventually ends. Webster informs the boxers she will be headed out of town for a convention centered around treatments for Parkinson’s. She says she will bring back some more equipment for the gym and she hopes to broaden her knowledge on boxing techniques while she is there.

“Is there anything else you guys want me to ask about or look for?” Webster asks.

“Yeah,” one boxer replies. “A cure.”

Everyone laughs and continues putting away their things.

When Webster returns the next week, everything is business as usual. Webster and the boxers tell each other how much they missed each other, and the boxers also ask how the convention was.

Yet, no one inquires as to whether or not she found a cure, and she doesn’t bring it up either.

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