You appreciate every day – Dave Clark on living with Parkinson’s disease

Dave Clark is determined to show that life does not end with diagnosis as he continues to battle Parkinson’s disease in a positive way.

It would be easy for Clark to be bitter about things after the illness forced him to retire from his dream job as a Sky Sports presenter, where he fronted the broadcasters’ coverage of darts and boxing for nearly two decades.

He can remember the exact time and date when his life changed forever – 9.47am on January 26, 2011 – and it was just a couple of minutes later that the diagnosing doctor asked him about the size of his mortgage and how old his children were.

6 yrs ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson's - Spending my #Parkieversary basking in the optimistic energy of @springsteen #Perth @emirates

— Dave Clark (@DaveClarkTV) January 20, 2017

Unsurprisingly, Clark admits he was struck by a sense of doom, but was intent on doing things differently.

Having seen his father slowly succumb to the chronic neurological generative disease, he did not want to hide away and continued presenting for a further 10 years before eventually retiring during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 56-year-old, who has two sons of his own, is now enjoying his forced retirement, having hiked across the Serengeti, swam in Australia’s coral reef and – most importantly for him – seen Bruce Springsteen’s opening night of his world tour.

‘The Boss’ is Clark’s hero and it is fitting that ‘No Surrender’ is the song that keeps him going in the dark moments.

But he does not allow himself to think about the worst, instead focusing on living every day to its fullest.

“Parkinson’s gives you a sense of time. It’s a chronic neurological generative disease, it’s not going to end well,” he told the PA news agency ahead of World