TAMPA, Fla. — A Lakeland woman is helping to give people hope in their fight against Parkinson’s disease. Jill Spangler has a personal reason for joining that fight. 

Several mornings a week you will find Spangler at the Kelly Recreation Complex in Lakeland helping to lead boxing exercise classes called PunchWorx. Dozens of people show up for the classes that last for about an hour.

What You Need To Know

  • Jill Spangler started the PunchWorx boxing exercise program for people with Parkinson's disease

  • Spanger started the program after her father was diagnosed with the illness

  • The classes are held at the Kelly Recreation Complex in Lakeland

  • Participants are encouraged to push themselves past their normal limits

 “Side of the hand. Try to roll. Try and roll. Good job,” said Spangler to one of the participants as he was hitting a small punching bag. The participants go from one station to the next during the class. Sometimes they will hit large punching bags, bounce on small trampolines or even throw a heavy ball against a ball.

Spangler is one of several instructors for the classes.

“I always encourage them to do their best. To push themselves outside of their limits,” she said.

Spangler wound up starting the PunchWorx program after her father Richard Kapocsi was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. She felt like the intense exercise helped him have a better quality of life until the disease took his life in 2023.

Spangler said many of the participants in the PunchWorx classes struggle to simply get out of bed in the morning. But by the time they finish the class, they have fewer symptoms.

“But they show up here whether they feel good or bad and hopefully they leave this program and this class feeling great,” she said.

PunchWorx Executive Director Marty Hubbard is inspired by Spangler’s dedication to the cause.

“It’s just really given them hope,” Hubbard said. “Because that’s what she really was for her dad. She was a source of hope.”