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Keeneland Association Donates to Parkinson's Research Fund
Kentucky Ag Connection - 10/15/2018

The Keeneland Association donated $25,000 to Parkinson's Disease research in honor of Ann Hanley, wife of WinStar Farm General Manager David Hanley.

Hanley, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 49, founded the Ann Hanley Parkinson's Research Fund in 2016 to underwrite research into an experimental treatment available only at the University of Kentucky.

"For more than 80 years, Keeneland has devoted itself to serving the horse industry and our community," said Bill Thomason, President and CEO of the Keeneland Association. "In her fight against Parkinson's, Ann has shown that she shares these same values. We admire her tenacity and devotion and are honored to support her efforts to find a cure."

Nearly one million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson's disease, a degenerative illness that damages and eventually destroys neurons in the brain, causing muscle rigidity and tremors, difficulty moving, unstable posture and ultimately death. There is no known cause and no cure.

UK HealthCare's Dr. Craig van Horne is testing a treatment designed to improve symptoms of the disease, such as tremors and stiffness. Called DBSplus, the treatment -- in its early stages of testing-- transplants a small piece of a patient's own nerve tissue into the brain. The grafted nerve tissue is being tested for its ability to repair cells in the brain and improve motor function.

"While this is not a cure, it gives patients more time to enjoy their lives with more normalcy," van Horne said. "It's our hope, though, that as we further refine the procedure we might find a gateway to a cure, though that is a long-term goal."

Because the treatment doesn't involve a drug or a medical device, there is no industry funding for Dr. van Horne's research. Hanley, both a patient of van Horne's and a liaison to other Parkinson's patients at UK HealthCare's Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, was determined to find the money to help van Horne continue his studies.


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