![\"KCRA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kcra.png\")
<\/p>\nSF’s Rock Steady Boxing is fighting Parkinson’s one punch at a time<\/p>\n
Veronica Garcia-Hayes was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson\u2019s disease when she was 39 years old and four months pregnant. She described being in shock when she first got the diagnosis.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\tUpdated: 6:09 PM PST Feb 20, 2026\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tEditorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\tVeronica Garcia-Hayes was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson\u2019s disease when she was 39 years old and four months pregnant. She described being in shock when she first got the diagnosis.\u201cIt never even occurred to me that something like this could happen,\u201d Garcia-Hayes said. \u201cI wanted to focus on being a first-time mom.\u201dThat was in 2009, and for years she didn\u2019t address the diagnosis. But in 2014, her symptoms started to become noticeable to her and those around her. Garcia-Hayes started taking medicine, and around that same time, she was introduced to Rock Steady Boxing, a program designed for people with Parkinson\u2019s.Parkinson\u2019s is a neurodegenerative disorder. Physical symptoms of the disease include tremors and slowed movement. However, according to a study from Yale School of Medicine, \u201chigh-intensity exercise induces brain-protective effects that have the potential to not just slow down, but possibly reverse, the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u201dDuring Rock Steady Boxing classes, held inside the Hit Fit SF gym on Harrison St. in the Mission District, athletes are working and moving their full bodies. Hayes-Garcia has seen the impact firsthand.\u201cIt\u2019s the exertion and getting that heart rate up to a certain level that really helps us slow that progression,\u201d she said. \u201cThe medication allowed me to move my body the way I needed, and then boxing helps slow the progression. I didn\u2019t have to up the medication as quickly as most do.\u201dHayes-Garcia is now a certified coach through Rock Steady Boxing, something that she said gives her purpose.\u201cNot only am I helping myself, but I\u2019m helping others. And I think one of the main reasons is my daughter. It\u2019s all she\u2019s ever known, but at the same time, I can\u2019t not fight. I have to show her that that\u2019s all we can do, is move forward,\u201d Hayes-Garcia said.Hayes-Garcia is one of the featured speakers at the S.F. Chronicle\u2019s Aging and Longevity Summit on Monday, Feb. 23. In-person tickets are sold out, but livestream tickets are still available. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tSAN FRANCISCO \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Veronica Garcia-Hayes was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson\u2019s disease when she was 39 years old and four months pregnant. She described being in shock when she first got the diagnosis.<\/p>\n \u201cIt never even occurred to me that something like this could happen,\u201d Garcia-Hayes said. \u201cI wanted to focus on being a first-time mom.\u201d<\/p>\n That was in 2009, and for years she didn\u2019t address the diagnosis. But in 2014, her symptoms started to become noticeable to her and those around her. Garcia-Hayes started taking medicine, and around that same time, she was introduced to Rock Steady Boxing, a program designed for people with Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n Parkinson\u2019s is a neurodegenerative disorder<\/a>. Physical symptoms of the disease include tremors and slowed movement. However, according to a study from Yale School of Medicine, \u201chigh-intensity exercise induces brain-protective effects that have the potential to not just slow down, but possibly reverse, the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n During Rock Steady Boxing classes, held inside the Hit Fit SF gym on Harrison St. in the Mission District, athletes are working and moving their full bodies. Hayes-Garcia has seen the impact firsthand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the exertion and getting that heart rate up to a certain level that really helps us slow that progression,\u201d she said. \u201cThe medication allowed me to move my body the way I needed, and then boxing helps slow the progression. I didn\u2019t have to up the medication as quickly as most do.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes-Garcia is now a certified coach through Rock Steady Boxing, something that she said gives her purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only am I helping myself, but I\u2019m helping others. And I think one of the main reasons is my daughter. It\u2019s all she\u2019s ever known, but at the same time, I can\u2019t not fight. I have to show her that that\u2019s all we can do, is move forward,\u201d Hayes-Garcia said.<\/p>\n Hayes-Garcia is one of the featured speakers at the S.F. Chronicle\u2019s Aging and Longevity Summit<\/a> on Monday, Feb. 23. In-person tickets are sold out, but livestream tickets are still available. <\/p>\n See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SF’s Rock Steady Boxing is fighting Parkinson’s one punch at a time Veronica Garcia-Hayes was diagnosed with early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[128,703,49,48,8745,408,1054,196633,8624,196636,377,1058,83413,27359,10777,196635,136648,196632,5886,82,128367,7479,196634,2552],"class_list":{"0":"post-488974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-aging","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-disease","13":"tag-exercise","14":"tag-full-body","15":"tag-hayes-garcia","16":"tag-longevity","17":"tag-longevity-summit","18":"tag-medication","19":"tag-medicine","20":"tag-parkinson","21":"tag-parkinsons","22":"tag-parkinsons-disease","23":"tag-progression","24":"tag-punch","25":"tag-rock-steady-boxing","26":"tag-san-francisco","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-symptom","29":"tag-time","30":"tag-veronica-garcia-haye","31":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHearst TV Multimedia Journalist
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