Steve Ludzik woke up one day and realized he'd traveled this road before.

When I was in grade six, there was a kid who would wait for me after school and slap me around, Ludzik recalls. I was just a skinny, little kid, and one night I came home with a black eye after he beat me up.

In today's America, there are protocols for handling bullies. In 1960s Canada, there was only one way to solve the problem.

My mom was an angel, and when she found out what was going on, she got right on the phone and said she would straighten it out, Ludzik said. My dad said, 'Put that phone down!'

My dad told me that when I get out of school tomorrow, get the drop on this kid and hit him, and then keep hitting him.

Like all bullies, the guy was a coward. I grabbed him the next day and throttled him. I never had another problem, and that kid never bothered anyone after that.

That's how we were raised. Take care of it yourself and don't get pushed around.

The 51-year-old Ludzik had been thinking about that time in his life early this year. It was eating away at his conscience. He felt what he was doing was wrong.

I looked at my own kids and I knew what I had to do, Ludzik said by phone from Niagara Falls a couple of days ago. I said, 'I'm not going to get kicked around by Parkinson's disease.' Not anymore.

That's when Ludzik announced to the world that he was ill.

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Ludzik won't be bullied by Parkinson's disease