Time out with T.O. – Why Colleen skates

Colleen Wuebben paused a second before she spoke at a wrap-up meeting for the inaugural UNMC Skate-a-thon for Parkinson’s.

Tom O’Connor

Then she went into a story about the last hour of the 24-hour skate-a-thon. Colleen — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2005 at age 52 — was exhausted. She’d only slept about two hours but as a founder of the event she felt like she needed to be on the ice for the closing moments.

As she circled the rink, she saw a man in his 50s standing by himself. She didn’t know the man him but she was drawn to him so she skated over and introduced herself.

The man had heard about the event through the media. Like Colleen, he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s about five years ago.

Colleen Wuebben, left, with her daughter, Jenny Knutson, at the recent UNMC Skate-a-thon for Parkinson’s.

He said he was there to talk to Colleen.

He had never talked to anyone with Parkinson’s before, and he just wanted to speak with someone else who understood what he was going through.

As Wuebben told her story, there was silence. Several committee members had tears in their eyes.

Parkinson’s is a tough, insidious disease that slowly robs one’s body of balance and coordination, while constantly tormenting people with tremors and rigidity.

With no cure available, it can be scary and lonely confronting this monster every day.

Suddenly, it was crystal clear why Colleen was skating.