Two Sisters, 1 Mission: Rowing for Their Mother to End Parkinson’s
Their mom was the one who said yes to adventure.
Yes to the trail walks and bike rides through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Yes to hikes in national parks and travel through epic landscapes, from Nepal to the Galápagos Islands. Yes to the camping trips up and down the East Coast. Sisters and Human Powered Potential Second Wave rowers Megan Laughlin and Maureen Twohig have been shaped by their mother’s love of adventure and travel. But in 2019, their lives shifted dramatically when their mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Now, Megan and Maureen are setting out to take on a record-breaking +5,200-mile row around the eastern United States to raise funds for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and put an end to this disease.
Divergent Paths Shaped by a Shared Spirit
Maureen caught the adventure gene early. She walked onto the rowing team at St. Joseph’s University as a freshman—a sport she’d never tried—and earned a scholarship by sophomore year. She won a silver medal at the Dad Vail Regatta in the varsity women’s lightweight eight and became an Atlantic 10 conference champion.
“I learned to push myself harder than I thought physically possible. The mental toughness I learned when racing and earning a spot in my boat was my greatest takeaway from rowing.” -Maureen Twohig, Team HPP Second Wave crew member
She met her husband, Wes, during freshman orientation, and the day after their wedding, they boarded a plane to his first Air Force assignment. A life of constant movement followed, leading Maureen to teach first grade on a military base in Germany while Wes deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. There, she earned “rookie of the year” honors for Department of Defense schools while supporting military children, many of whom had one or both parents deployed.
When the family later settled in Winter Garden, Florida, Maureen poured her adventurous spirit into raising and homeschooling her three sons. She grew a successful biscotti business from a $200 investment and launched a mosaic art studio using reclaimed surfboards, among other found materials, eventually selling her pieces through two Florida galleries. Through every chapter, she prioritized exploration, buying a pop-up camper and chasing wonder across 39 national parks with her family.
Megan took a different path, but no less shaped by their mother. She earned her doctorate in physical therapy and built a career in geriatric physical therapy, where she works with Parkinson’s patients.
“I’ve treated countless folks with Parkinson’s disease and always found them to be among the most driven and motivated patients.” -Megan Laughlin, Team HPP Second Wave crew member
Eventually, Megan found time for travel alongside a trusted adventure companion: her mom. In her early 30s, the two of them started traveling together (since her dad wasn’t fond of flying!). They traveled to national parks first, then to international destinations: Europe. South Africa. Peru. The Caribbean. The Galápagos. Iceland. A five-day trek through Nepal’s Annapurna region marked the hardest physical challenge of Megan’s life, exploring unpopulated mountain wilderness where the only way out would have been a helicopter evacuation.
She didn’t stop at traveling and hiking. Megan also discovered an unexpected passion for distance running after a coworker’s marathon finisher medal inspired her to train from scratch. As she was training, 9/11 happened. Megan ran her first marathon in March of 2022 in Washington, DC, which was dedicated to honoring those who lost their lives during 9/11, and she finished with her mom cheering her on. She’s been seeking new challenges ever since.
Facing the Uncontrollable
Megan vividly remembers the moment when her mom shared her Parkinson’s diagnosis. She and Maureen were walking with their mom on the same trail she had taken them on hundreds of times as kids. As the years passed, the progression of Parkinson’s and dementia slowly stripped their mother of her memory, words, and mobility. Living just a few miles from her parents’ home, Megan stepped into the role of primary caregiver.
“Caring for my mom is both the most special and the most difficult job I’ve ever had,” Megan says. “Yet every day, she asks me what she can do to help and tells me she loves me. I continue to aspire to have the strength and courage that my mom has.”
An Extraordinary “Yes” to Adventure
An opportunity to fight back arrived when Maureen’s husband, Wes, connected her with Ashley Ellis at the Orlando Rowing Club. During a row together, Ashley shared her early-onset Parkinson’s diagnosis and plans for the Second Wave, a team of women who would row the Great American Loop of more than 5,200 nautical miles through America’s waterways to raise funds for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The team was looking for members, and Maureen joined.
When Maureen called her sister to invite her onto the team, Megan’s initial reaction was disbelief. Her first thought was, “That’s something other people do, not people like me.” But Maureen convinced her she could take on this extraordinary challenge. And so she said yes to this new adventure, a “yes” that came from the same inspired place every “yes” came from before: their mom.
“Feeling like we can do something that is within our control to fight this disease is so valued when so much of the daily fight is unrelenting and devastating,” Maureen says.
As Maureen faces the difficult sacrifice of a summer away from her husband and sons, and Megan navigates the emotional hardships of caregiving, the sisters are united by a profound sense of hope. These two remarkable women are turning their mother’s lifelong legacy of adventure into action for a cure.
