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Jackson neurologist Dr. Patrick Weldon had long been a reliable volunteer coach for the Special Olympics.

But when the organization happened to call him less than 24 hours after the birth of his youngest child, he had to decline the task of coaching a Down Syndrome basketball team.

“Not now,” he said, and asked to take a year off. “It was just a little too close to home.”

With the arrival of his son Nicholas in January 2006, Weldon’s involvement with Down Syndrome stretched beyond his work as a physician and advocate to encompass a daunting new role: parent. As the weeks and months passed, the initial shock and grief over his son’s unforeseen condition soon gave way to acceptance and delight over their family’s fourth child.

Weldon channeled his competitive running and coaching experience into a new nonprofit, the Up With Downs Team, to raise money and awareness through charity walks, 5K races, marathons and triathlons. Meanwhile he and his wife, Christy, found both support and an outlet for action in the Central Mississippi Down Syndrome Society, for whom she serves as chair of the Buddy Walk fundraiser this year.

Down Syndrome has become a special area of interest both personally and professionally for Weldon, who works in private practice on the medical staff at Central Mississippi Medical Center (CMMC). His additional interest areas include stroke prevention, headaches, epilepsy and Tourette Syndrome.

A native of Louisiana, Weldon graduated from Louisiana Tech University and came to Jackson for an internship in internal medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC). He stayed at UMC for a residency and served as chief resident of neurology during his final year there. He joined CMMC in 2005.

“I’ve been lucky in having found a career that I really love,” he said. “When you enjoy what you’re doing, you can get out of bed in the morning and not feel like you’re going to work.”

Alongside his practice — and long before a cause for advocacy became part of his family’s life — Weldon has been active in medical causes and particularly athletic fundraising.

He has served as a marathon running coach for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and as a coach for the Special Olympics, and has taken part in races and triathlons to raise money for organizations like the Tourette Syndrome Association, Multiple Sclerosis Society and Neurofibromatosis Organization.

Among Weldon’s proudest accomplishments to date is receiving the American Academy of Neurology’s Palatucci Advocacy Award in 2004 while serving as chief resident at UMC.

In the field of neurology, Weldon says he’s been encouraged to see an emerging emphasis on prevention after the 1990s — the so-called “decade of the brain,” with its many advances in diagnostic tools and treatments for neurological diseases.

“We came to the realization that there is no good way to treat a stroke,” he said. “The emphasis has to be on prevention.”

While the key risk factors for stroke — smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes — haven’t changed, what is beginning to change is a new focus on prevention by insurance companies and the government.

“Finally people are catching on that if you invest a dollar in prevention, you’ll save $20 in treatment costs,” Weldon said.

Outside of his medical practice, Weldon makes use of downtime to feed an insatiably active temperament with new physical challenges. He has run more than 200 races, from 5Ks to marathons to triathlons, and is training to compete in his first IronMan competition this fall.

The greatest rush, though, comes from another favorite hobby — skydiving. Since making his first jump in 1986 over a crop-duster field in Louisiana, Weldon has made some 5,000 jumps and spent close to 60 hours in freefall.

In the late 1980s, a desire to film some of his buddies skydiving led to a side project of developing strapped-on cameras for use while parachuting. He rigged the device first from the bulky VHS cameras of the 1980s and later from the earliest hand-sized camcorders, which he mounted to batting helmets purchased from a sporting-goods store.

Though awkward, the contraption won him gigs shooting everything from television commercials to movie scenes and would eventually help pay his tuition to medical school.

By the early 1990s, Weldon and a partner had developed their own helmets using light plastic, branding them as ParaMount Skydiving Helmets. Weldon sold out of the company when he went to medical school, but he still receives royalties from the camera elements. The gear has since become popular with not only sky-divers but also BMX cyclists, skateboarders, in-line skaters and snow skiers.

Although his children have not yet had the chance to make their first jumps, Weldon enjoys taking them on bike rides and kayak treks on Ross Barnett Reservoir. He plays basketball and other games with his family after work, and also takes time off during the summer to spend with his children: Victoria, 17; Bailey, 10; Alex, 3; and now Nicholas, 1.

During his youngest son’s first year of life, Weldon has watched both the changes in Nicholas’ development and in his own attitude since that emotional first day in the delivery room.

“He’s just the coolest little guy ever,” Weldon said, with a smile.

His work with the Up With Downs Team also includes raising support and awareness for the Little Light House, a Christian development center in Brandon serving young children with special needs. The team’s goals include raising $140,000 per year to fund a class at the school.

“I cannot say enough about this great school,” Weldon said. “It provides physical, occupation and speech therapy daily, and is tuition-free — relying solely on donations.”


August 2007

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