A fairly new arrival to the PMD Alliance team—Aaron King, our Director of Development—joined us last winter, bringing with him a rich history of innovation, service, and adventure. A former record holding power-lifter before injury required him to leave the sport, as well as a long-time care partner to a person with a neurodegenerative illness, Aaron has a unique understanding and appreciation for many of the experiences our community members face in their own journeys.
“In my early 30s, I married the cute girl who had sat in front of me in study hall senior year of high school,” Aaron explained, “and shortly before we were married, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).” This started his path of volunteer advocacy, first fundraising for the National MS Society and ranking in the top 150 fundraisers, then transitioning to supporting their National MS Walks in the state of Illinois.
While a Chicago native, Aaron has always loved travel, as has his wife, Nicole. “One day, my wife and I looked at each other and said, ‘You know, with MS, the only guarantee is, at some point down the line, it’s going to get bad.’ We had these great dreams of wanting to go explore the world and unplug from life, so we…”he smiled a little sheepishly at the memory “…sold all of our stuff and moved to a little fishing village in the middle of nowhere Mexico.”
This involved not only working with a private Spanish tutor for a year prior to their move but also leaving his successful position in business and market development, the culmination of some 20 years of professional experience. While he spoke well of his early career, it was clear he was most proud of everything that came after this shift. In Chuburna Puerto, Aaron and Nicole’s new home in Yucatan, Mexico, the pair soon found themselves leveraging their past work experience for the good of their new neighbors, taking over management of a struggling nonprofit focused on creating educational opportunity for the local children: Chuburna Puerto Apoyo Escolar.
Aaron described the lion’s share of the work as: communicating local needs to Americans and Canadians with ties to the area, soliciting donations from those people, and bringing that funding back to the PTA and school administration to be used to help students access fulfilling career paths beyond their local communities. “It was a great place to live as a foreigner, but it was a dead-end town for kids… The local fishing industry is incredibly dangerous, and a number of people die every year.”
He glowed when he talked about the local children he was helping. “I still get big hugs whenever I visit,” he told me, sharing that he continues to do a weekly remedial math class via Zoom with the students, despite his recent transition back to the states.
Shortly before he joined PMD Alliance, Aaron’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and that, combined with the overall declining health of their parents, convinced Aaron and Nicole it was time to return to Chicago. But not to Aaron’s former career field.
“Once I felt how good it feels at the end of the day to help people, I got hooked on it,” he said.
That supportive spirit was a perfect fit for the PMD Alliance team, and it took him little time to see the unique magic of collaborating with those we serve. “Not only are they so open and willing to accept help,” he said, “but they are also so willing to provide help to others in the community who may be struggling with something they have experience with… It’s a great community that really seems to look out for each other.”
Special thanks to honorary coworkers Jackson, Norman, and Catydid for supporting Aaron!
Since joining PMD Alliance, Aaron has been making waves across our development efforts, including piloting waiting room resource kits for healthcare providers and leading the creation of our new, user-friendly donation portal! Just what we would expect from a man who “finished his first bucket list before 48,” alongside a chronically ill partner—he knows how to plan ahead to make the important things happen. And that’s what he does every day now for our community: ideates and executes plans that enhance systems of community care, grow the capacity of programs , and enable us to continue to provide vital resources to those with a movement disorder, their loved ones, and their healthcare providers.
