This years charity walk for Parkinson's saw people come out in droves to help end the debilitating disease.

The Parkinson's SuperWalk 2018 saw a significant amount of community involvement when it was held last Saturday.

Around 150 people all came out to the second event hosted in Swift Current, which raises funds to help fight the disease, as well as to raise awareness for it.

The walk was scheduled to be two kilometres long, but able-bodied participants were welcomed to take two trips around the route.

Todd MacPherson, managing director of Saskatchewan with Parkinson's Canada, was present at the event and said that their sponsors were tremendous in making the event more profitable.

"(They) really help us to get the word out, and provide most of what you see here, just about all the food, water, coffee, snacks, all of that is often donated through sponsorship, so basically we try to see that our sponsors are good enough to help cover all the cost associated with the SuperWalk here locally, and then, as a result, every dollar raised goes into the whole fundraising pile, we're not paying for the event out of it due to such generous sponsors."

Saskatchewan is hosting six SuperWalks this year throughout the province, but the Swift Current walk is the first of the year.

The primary way that funds were raised was through individuals in the community in an innovative way, as said by MacPherson.

"It's a peer to peer so what that means is that the people who are walking have gone and asked family members, friends, co-workers, past employers, anybody and everybody that knows them well enough to ask them to say 'would you consider donating towards Parkinson's SuperWalk and help fund mine,' and we'll do a little recognition of the top fundraising team and the top fundraising person, so we have a little fun with that, and give them something, I think this year we're doing the superhero cape again because, you know, SuperWalk and they're our heroes."

The walk is estimated to raise around $15,000, and before the event even began, $9,000 had been raised.

Swift Current Mayor, Denis Perrault, and Member of the House of Commons, David Anderson, were both at the event to talk about the work that Parkinson's Canada does and the importance of events like the SuperWalk.

Perrault, who also later participated in the walk, said this in a speech presented at the meeting before the SuperWalk started.

"I was very alarmed to learn that 25 Canadians are diagnosed with Parkinson's each and every day, and even more alarmed to learn that this number will double in just over ten years from now if nothing is done. That makes the efforts of Parkinson's Canada and supporters like everyone here so very important." 

Parkinson's disease affects nerve cells in the brain which can induce muscle rigidity, tremors, and changes in speech.

 

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