Robert K. Blackburn, father of Bill Blackburn, served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. Robert was exposed to agent orange in Vietnam. Doctors determined that this exposure was the cause of his Parkinson's which was diagnosed in 1995. Robert succumbed to the disease in September 2015 at the age of 69.
Robert's son Bill sought to acquire the Doner Designs Time Machine bass because the proceeds from that sale were to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Bill was runner up in the sale but the winning bidder had no direct connection to Parkinson's, therefore, with Bill's permission, Doner Designs made the donation in honor and memory of Bill's father Robert.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today. The Foundation is the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, with more than $800 million in high-impact research funded to date.
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