One year ago, Sean Bulanda was taking roughly 300 steps a day, mostly between the couch and the bathroom. Today, he’s a stand-up comedian, a songwriter, a certified LSVT BIG® physical therapist, and the founder of a 2,200-member Parkinson’s support group. This is the story of what happened in between.
Rock Bottom, and a Haircut
Before the Parkinson’s diagnosis, before the comedy sets and the original songs, there were two years of near-total withdrawal. Sean, a physical therapist (PT) who had spent his career helping patients rebuild their mobility, found himself unable to care for his own. Anxiety and depression had taken hold after he abruptly left a demanding healthcare job, and what followed was a quiet, devastating spiral.
“I stayed in the house for the next two years,” Sean told LSVT Global’s podcast Think BIG and LOUD. “I didn’t take a shower. I didn’t shave. I didn’t cut my hair. I kind of looked like the worst version of Tom Hanks from Castaway. The dirty version.”
The turning point came in October 2024, not from a dramatic moment of clarity, but from a practical errand. His ex-wife flew to Ohio to help him deal with some overdue banking. She arrived prepared: with tools, with patience, and with an electric razor.
From there, small steps. A walk to the mailbox. Then three times to the mailbox. Then around the block. Sean calls October 20th, 2024, his rebirth — the day a new chapter began.
The Diagnosis He’d Already Figured Out
As the fog of depression slowly lifted and Sean began seeing doctors again, Parkinson’s disease entered the conversation. A neurologist raised the possibility in December. A movement disorder specialist confirmed it in January 2025.
By then, Sean had already done his homework. Weeks of podcasts, TED talks, and medical research had led him to the same conclusion.
His background as a physical therapist gave him a unique lens on his own condition. He noticed he was hunching. He was shuffling. He had trouble getting his arm into a jacket sleeve. Where another person might have attributed these things to deconditioning alone, Sean recognized the Parkinson’s gait because he’d treated it in patients for decades.
“I am my patient,” he said with characteristic humor. “I got the best therapist and the worst patient.”
Becoming LSVT BIG Certified — As Patient and Therapist
While working to renew his California PT license, Sean stumbled onto LSVT BIG — an evidence-based physical therapy program designed specifically for people with Parkinson’s disease. The program focuses on training the brain to produce bigger, more normal movements to counteract the progressively smaller motions Parkinson’s causes.
He didn’t just study it. He went through the certification process himself, practicing the very techniques he was learning.
The results were firsthand and immediate. “If you’re having trouble standing up, getting yourself going forward, sidestepping, turning — these are activities that can be improved very quickly with the LSVT BIG program,” he said.
The Parkinson’s Ninja Is Born
Sean has been a martial artist for 25 to 30 years. He trained others. He reached a master level. And he was the guy, all 5’7″, 135 pounds of him, who would walk out at demonstrations and break a stack of ten bricks with his bare hands while the 280-pound fighters in the room looked on in disbelief.
The secret, he’ll tell you, is entirely in your mind.
That philosophy, outsmarting an obstacle with mental and physical discipline, is exactly what “ninja” means to Sean. He didn’t want “warrior,” which felt too common online. He wanted something that captured strategy, agility, and a quiet confidence. So: the Proud Parkinson’s Ninja.
There’s a self-deprecating footnote. “My speech started declining,” he laughed, “and then I said — why did I pick such a hard name to say?”
Stand-Up Comedy, Twenty Times and Counting
Over the summer of 2025, Sean performed stand-up comedy nearly twenty times to raise Parkinson’s awareness. His style is less punchline-driven and more storytelling, the kind of thing you’d hear over coffee from someone who has genuinely lived it.
One of his most-told stories involves a visit to the urologist and a small paper cup. The details are vivid, the tremor timing was impeccable, and the punchline — which he won’t say without the full setup — ends with a handwritten sign he now brings to every urology appointment: “This bathroom’s rocking. Don’t come knocking.”
That story became a song. Using AI tools, Sean fed the narrative into a music generator and produced “Bathroom Blues,” a bluesy-country track that he performs live following the story. “You can see yourself singing it,” he said, “but it’s the bathroom blues. So it’s kind of crazy.”
Five Original Songs and a World Stage
Music has become one of Sean’s most unexpected outlets. Using AI-assisted songwriting tools, he has released five original songs — each rooted in lived experience and shaped around a message of resilience.
“Carrying On,” his song about loss and rebuilding, is available on all major streaming platforms. He describes it as “very moving” and applicable to anyone facing hardship, not just those with Parkinson’s.
When Sean learned about the World Parkinson’s Congress 2026 songwriting contest, the theme being the East Asian legend of the red thread of fate, the invisible bond connecting people destined to meet, he entered three songs: “Shuffling Through Life,” “The Red String Takes Us Higher,” and a punk version he very much hopes a choir will one day perform on stage.
A Support Group Built on Lightness
Sean’s Facebook support group, “Parkinson’s Support — Got Dopamine?” (a nod to the famous “Got Milk?” campaign), grew from 20 members in early summer to over 2,200 by October 2025, a surge that opened up like a floodgate around July.
What differentiates it from other groups, he says, is tone. “Most of the people in there are very interested in hearing something positive.” He mixes educational content with stand-up clips, brick-breaking martial arts videos, and news relevant to the Parkinson’s community, keeping the atmosphere lighter than many of the more clinically serious support spaces.
The group’s founding was a bit defiant. After his tongue-in-cheek posting style got him removed and banned from a few other groups, Sean decided to build his own.
What Comes Next
Sean is currently preparing an audition video for America’s Got Talent. He acknowledges there may not be a bigger platform for Parkinson’s awareness. “People are a little bit disarmed when they see me shuffle out, and I can’t hold my head up very long, and then they realize that I’m telling jokes just like they would tell jokes. So it’s a nice surprise.”
He’s also hoping to perform at the World Parkinson’s Congress performers’ lounge in May 2026, though, as he puts it with characteristic dry humor: “Their people have not called my people yet.”
His mission, distilled with a little help from Microsoft Copilot, is now three words, or six, depending on how you count:
Advice for Those Facing Parkinson’s
For others newly diagnosed, or for their families and caregivers, Sean’s message is grounded and practical. He acknowledges that not everyone is at the same stage, that some people face limitations far greater than his own, and that comparison isn’t the point.
“There’s always something you can do that’s more,” he said. That might mean asking your doctor about physical therapy before being told to. It might mean looking into speech language pathology or occupational therapy, disciplines that many people aren’t aware of until they need them. It might mean finding a Facebook group with the right energy for where you are.
But above all else, his parting words were simpler than any of that:
Hear the Full Story
Listen to Sean’s episode on Think BIG and LOUD, the LSVT Global podcast — available wherever you get your podcasts.
The Proud Parkinson’s Ninja
Follow Sean’s journey — his comedy, original music, and Parkinson’s support community — through the links below.