{"id":19270,"date":"2014-07-16T21:18:57","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T13:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=19270"},"modified":"2014-07-16T21:18:57","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T13:18:57","slug":"toronto-teen-plans-to-wear-straitjacket-for-14-days-for-parkinsons-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/07\/16\/toronto-teen-plans-to-wear-straitjacket-for-14-days-for-parkinsons-charity\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto teen plans to wear straitjacket for 14 days for Parkinson\u2019s charity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A man with Parkinson’s disease displaying a flexed walking posture pictured in 1892. Photo by Albert Londe \/ National Library of Medicine \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014Since strapping on a straitjacket for charity just over a week ago, Toronto-based magician\/actor Mark Correia has figured out how to play video games, cook omelettes and pancakes, and do many other everyday tasks using his feet, mouth, teeth and arms.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one thing he can\u2019t do that will be first on his agenda when he finally gets out of the restrictive garment on July 22.<\/p>\n

\u201cBathing is the first thing,\u201d the 18-year-old Oakville, Ont., native said this week. \u201cIt\u2019s not as pretty of a stunt as it looks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correia put on the straitjacket on July 8 to raise funds for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson\u2019s Research. His goal is to keep it on for 14 days and raise $25,000 through markcorreia.ca and escapingparkinsons.com. By Tuesday afternoon, he\u2019d raised $5,000.<\/p>\n

Video blogs of his journey are on his YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

On the final day, he\u2019ll attempt to escape from the straitjacket live on Global TV\u2019s \u201cThe Morning Show.\u201d He says if he\u2019s successful, he\u2019ll also set a world record for the longest amount of time spent in a straitjacket.<\/p>\n

A student of the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, Correia said he fell in love with magic at a young age and learned how to escape from a straitjacket from his mentor, illusionist Scott Hammell, when he was 14.<\/p>\n

He decided to turn his skills into a fundraising campaign for Fox\u2019s foundation because the actor\u2014who was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease in 1991\u2014is the \u201cbiggest hero in the world\u201d to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe straitjacket is a great metaphor\u201d for the restrictive nature of Parkinson\u2019s, said Correia, who\u2019s received an email from Fox \u201csaying that this is the most unique way to raise money for his foundation, and he also said he was very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also said that I was a little bit crazy for what I was attempting,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Correia lives with his mother, who\u2019s been helping him accomplish some tasks. Some of his friends have also been by his side to assist him in his journey.<\/p>\n

On Day 7 on Tuesday, he insisted he hadn\u2019t cheated nor will he cheat.<\/p>\n

But he would never attempt the feat again, he admitted, noting his shoulders are locking up and his hands are getting \u201creally sweaty and dirty\u201d\u2014a problem his helpers have tempered by pumping sanitizer through tubes into the jacket arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing is getting very frustrating psychologically,\u201d he said. \u201cJust trying to do a task for 15 minutes is very gruelling and it feels impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also comes with risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blood can pool in my elbows and cause clots, so I have to stretch it out and … open and close my hands to keep circulation going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe muscles freeze up and tense up, so there\u2019s a lot of rotating and stretching that we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correia said he\u2019s been wearing the same T-shirt since his journey began\u2014\u201cI don\u2019t smell very good,\u201d he admitted\u2014but he has been able to change his pants.<\/p>\n

And yes, he is able to go to the washroom. Just how, he won\u2019t reveal.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good magician never reveals his secrets,\u201d he said. \u201cI think you probably don\u2019t want to know the answer. There\u2019s a way, though.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014Since strapping on a straitjacket for charity just over a week ago, Toronto-based magician\/actor Mark Correia has figured out how …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":19271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","mauthors-victoria-ahearn","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}