You've heard of the movie "The Bucket List?" Two terminally ill men who set out to fulfill a list of "to do's" before they die. A 77-year-old Ottawa man scratched a big one off his list; a chance to perform on stage in front of an audience. Bill Bird suffers from a debilitating disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy or PSP. It’s a Parkinson-related disease that limits his mobility and speech. But he's decided to make the most of what time he's got, fulfilling a long list of items on his bucket list.
“We’re going to be backstage here,” John Muggleton tells Bill and his wife Shirley Bird, as they navigate behind the curtain at Ottawa Little Theatre. They are words Bill Bird has longed to hear. “Backstage” at his favorite theatre for his grand debut.
"I'm quiet and shy,” says Bird, “don't know why I wanted to do this.”
But he has no plans to back out. This was number 9 on his bucket list, and an impressive list it is. It started two years ago with a Maple Leafs hockey game.
"He's 77,” says wife Shirley, “and he’s never seen Maple Leafs game, so we went, quick and dirty and he loved it.”
He's climbed a mountain.
“We were in Scottsdale,” says Shirley, “and two strangers helped Bill climb the last hundred feet.”
He’s even water skied.
“He was up for 8 minutes before he hit a wake. His doctor said impossible and I said we have the photos to prove it.”
Marrying Shirley was also on the bucket list. That happened last July.
“He pursued me for two years,” she laughs.
Today, he will perform to a live audience at Ottawa Little Theatre, one of his favorite venues.
John Muggleton is the director of Marketing for Ottawa Little Theatre, “This is a big part of his life and for us to be involved; it's really touching.”
First, there’s a short rehearsal. Actor Bob Hicks will play alongside him.
“I'm very happy to be able to do this,” says Hicks, “to give someone a chance to participate in it, possibly at a point in his life where things aren't that great.”
The curtain draws back and the play begins. It’s a scene from Neil Simon's play "Rumors". Bill plays Lenny. Wife Shirley watches in the audience with friends and members of the Parkinson Society of Eastern Ontario.
"It's important to him to make him feel whole,” says Shirley, “when he realizes these dreams on his bucket list, there's a feeling of wholeness.”
Bill's got 14 items on his bucket line he's done 9 so far, but the list keeps growing.
“Bill's message is loud and clear,” adds Hilary Evans, with the Parkinson Society of Eastern Ontario. April is Parkinson Awarness Month, “you don't have to sit still and stay home. You can enjoy life, doing whatever your heart desires.”
Bill is a little critical of his own performance; still this one may find its way back on the bucket list.
“I’d like to do it again,” he says with a big grin.
