Skate-a-thon raises more than $23,000

Fran Higgins of the UNMC School of Allied Health Professions won the tricycle races on ice. Here, she defeats Bob Binhammer, Ph.D., in the preliminary round.

Skaters recently circled the ice for 24 consecutive hours to raise more than $23,000 to help people with Parkinson’s disease.

Nearly 500 skaters and 750 people attended the third annual Skate-a-thon for Parkinson’s at the UNMC Ice Rink.

The money goes toward clinical and basic science Parkinson’s disease research at UNMC as well as the PHD Program (Parkinson’s Health Development), a non-profit, local program that offers affordable exercises and activities to improve the quality of life for persons with Parkinson’s.

The Skate-a-thon is the idea of an Omaha couple, Ted and Colleen Wuebben, who hosted their own Skate-a-thon for three years by flooding their back yard before the event moved to UNMC. Colleen was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2005 at the age of 52 and is being treated by John Bertoni, M.D., a professor in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences.

View more photos from the Skate-a-thon.