Horse Community Rallies for Parkinson’s Research; Can You Help Advance the Goal?

[Wandering Eyes]

The sale of donated Triple Crown memorabilia at the Sporting Art Auction in Lexington on Sunday exceeded expectations by raising $67,850 in support of the Ann Hanley Parkinson’s Research Fund.

But a behind-the-scenes act of kindness helped to buoy that amount significantly, Ann Hanley told TDN on Monday. She’s the wife of WinStar Farm general manager David Hanley, and she’s been working to fight Parkinson’s disease since being diagnosed with it herself 12 years ago.

“Those donated pieces sold amazingly,” Hanley said. “We were really happy with that. But we also had a gentleman come up during the auction, and he handed me his card and said he wanted to donate $20,000 to the fund. So all in all, this is way more than we anticipated.”

That’s important because Hanley’s fund (learn about it here) is the main financial supporter of a unique form of Parkinson’s research being conducted at the University of Kentucky (UK) in which the body’s own repair mechanisms—and not drugs—are being tested in clinical trials to see if they can halt progression of the nervous system disorder that affects movement.

Hanley said that because drugs are not part of the treatment regimen, pharmaceutical companies have zero financial incentive to do this type of research.

“So far, we’ve done 63 patients in a clinical trial,” Hanley said. “To be honest, we would have never been able to get it up and running without the help of the Thoroughbred and equine industries, because there’s no big money to be made anywhere [by pharmaceutical companies]. The benefit is solely for the patient. There’s no drug company behind this.”

Hanley said she initially began volunteering with the UK researchers to learn more about her diagnosis. She is now the director of development at the school’s Center for Advanced Brain Restoration Technology.

“I was there from the very beginning, and when I saw in the early stages the kind of success rate we were having, it was amazing,” Hanley said. “This is similar to how some cancer is being treated these days with immune cells to kill the cancer, except we’re doing it with the peripheral nerve system.

“If you cut into the peripheral nerve, it has a repair mechanism built into it that will repair the nerve,” Hanley explained. “If you cut into the central nerve system, it doesn’t have the same capability. So if you injure the brain or the spine, it doesn’t repair. But you can graft the person’s nerves from one area into the other, and it will repair it.”

Hanley continued: “So on that basis, we take a piece of peripheral nerve from the ankle, and we strip it down and relocate it into the brain in the area where the cells are dying because of the Parkinson’s. The idea is that we can regenerate or repair those cells. Parkinson’s is a progressively degenerative disease. Right now we’re just about two years out from the first patient we implanted, and three-quarters of those 63 patients are doing extremely well. So that in itself is a miracle.

“I actually had the surgery myself just 10 weeks ago, so I hope to benefit from it also,” Hanley said.

“Because this research is taking place so far outside of the box, it’s really difficult to get people to look at it seriously,” Hanley said. “It’s extremely difficult to get research money from the Food and Drug Administration to do this. We have a lot more patients, about 250, and in order to get them treated, there isn’t funding readily available. The funding has all come so far from my foundation. We’ve raised just under $1 million right now.”

Trainer Bob Baffert donated a halter worn by 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) that sold for $31,050. He also donated horseshoes worn by both Justify and 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), which were framed with two Sports Illustrated covers featuring both horses and signed by jockeys Mike Smith and Victor Espinoza. That item sold for $36,800.

The annual auction was organized by Cross Gate Gallery of Lexington, one of the country’s foremost galleries of fine sporting art, and hosted by Keeneland Association, Inc.

Cross Gate spokesperson Catherine Ladd Kenneally, whose family owns the gallery, said the two pieces of Triple Crown memorabilia attracted robust bidding, and both were eventually purchased by people within the racing industry.

“Ann is just a figure who is loved by the industry, and it really showed with the bidding support for those items,” Ladd Kenneally said. “People really bid in support of her and the foundation. We had a much bigger response than we anticipated. People outside of the industry were even involved, just because it’s such cool memorabilia. But in the end, both were purchased by racing industry entities. They just rallied around her and the cause. These pieces brought crazy numbers at auction.

“It is extremely gratifying for my family to use the platform of the auction to be able to give back in this manner,” Ladd Kenneally said.

Online donations to the Ann Hanley Parkinson’s Research Fund can be made via this page.

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