In 1990, Dan Miller of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Today, he is still affected by the disease; however, on Sunday, Aug. 25, several family members, friends, and others gathered to demonstrate their support by participating in the third annual Dan Miller Open at the Pebble Creek Golf Course.
Three years ago, Darren Miller, son of Dan Miller, and his best friend, Ian Isch, helped organize the open as volunteers with Team Fox, a fundraising program with The Michael J. Fox Foundation. “Ian called me one night said we got to do something for Parkinson’s disease through The Michael J. Fox Foundation, so on a whim we called the foundation and set up an outing,” said Darren Miller.
Over the last two years, the outing has raised over $10,000 to benefit research towards Parkinson’s disease.
“The debilitating disease took a toll on his speech and on things that he used to be able to do like open a pop can, but he never used the disease as an excuse,” said Isch. He added, “He’s been a second father to me. Back in the day, he’d take me to baseball games and whatnot and really served as a father figure.”
In 1973, Dan Miller joined the Richland County Sherriff’s Department and was involved in every part of the Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, he started the Richland County Dive Team and Boat Patrol. Eventually, he was promoted to captain. However, in 1990, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Miller continued to work for 10 more years before retiring in 2000 because of the effects of the disease.
He is now in a wheel chair 90 percent of the time and has not fully recovered from several knee replacements and a hip replacement.
In spite of his health conditions, he was beaming with delight and said, “I’m very happy to have my whole family here and the best of friends. To see everyone volunteer and send money to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, it’s a great feeling.”
To see everyone volunteer and send money to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, it’s a great feeling,” stated Dan Miller.
