John Hurley is a dear friend I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through the Jam for Joy and Day One programs. He has written some of the most influential work in the class, inspiring his classmates to look deeper, feel more freely and live with greater strength of purpose. I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with him at the 2023 Within Our Reach Symposium at the University of Maryland where he shared his story.

He is having surgery on Friday, Feb. 29 and has asked for healing energy to be sent his way. He writes:

To all of the friends I have met through Jam for Joy, Day One or any other connection with Robert. I will be having significant back surgery on Thursday, February 29 (yes, Leap Year Day.)

It’s a spinal fusion from the L-3 to S-1 vertebrae. Surgery is scheduled to start at 8:30 AM, Eastern time, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. I invite you to send me a wave of healing energy at that time, or anytime in the morning when it occurs to you. I feel certain that the collective energy and prayers that you send that day will greatly enhance the success of the surgery and the ease of my recovery. Thanks in advance for your support.

John Hurley

Originally Published on https://www.yesandexercise.org/

Robert Cochrane, PhD Yes, And...eXercise!

Dr. Robert Cochrane is a graduate of UNLV's Integrated Health Sciences department. He's researching the effect of improvisation and storytelling on Parkinson’s disease. He received grants from the Parkinson's Foundation and support from the Davis Phinney Foundation along the way. He is a popular, unique and high energy Keynote speaker, bringing joy, optimism and practical tools for people in the PD community to thrive today.

He has a background in filmmaking, with the Artisan Entertainment release, The Playaz Court, and two Stephen King-based short films among his credits. His father, Dan, was diagnosed with PD in 2001, which shifted Robert’s artistic lens to health. He made his first documentary, the award-winning Boys of Summer in 2004. There are two follow up films in the series with the fourth film coming in 2023.

He moved his family back to Walnut Creek, CA, where he grew up. He lives there with his beautiful wife, two teenagers who are, indeed, "all that" and is a proud care partner for his amazing parents.