This year’s 13th annual Skate-a-Thon for Parkinson’s disease at UNMC raised a record $34,000 for research.
In addition to the 525 skaters who skated over the 24-hour period, five individuals skated all 24 hours. The Nebraska Warriors hockey club had a representative on the ice all 24 hours, as well.
Proceeds from the event will go toward clinical and basic science Parkinson’s research at UNMC and Parkinson’s Nebraska. To date, $244,000 has been raised.
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. To grow the event, it was moved to the UNMC Ice Rink in 2011.
Colleen Wuebben was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2005 at age 52. She died in 2013 at age 60. The Wuebben family, which includes five children, has kept Colleen Wuebben’s memory alive by continuing to hold the skate-a-thon every year. Parkinson’s Nebraska was founded by Colleen Wuebben when she was diagnosed in 2005.
Team Cary was the top fundraising team at this year’s Skate-a-Thon.
“Thanks to the community for making this a winter tradition,” said Jenny Knutson, the daughter of Ted and Colleen Wuebbens. “The encouraging words of physicians give us the belief that we won’t have to host this event much longer. We hope a cure is on the horizon.”