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| The third annual Fox Trot for Parkinson's Research was held Saturday at Betar Byway in South Glens Falls. The event raised more than $15,000. |
SOUTH GLENS FALLS Megan Pliscofsky had to watch Saturday while the race she started ran without her.
Pliscofsky, who started the Fox Trot for Parkinson’s Research to raise money for a cure, just had a hip replaced six weeks ago. Her running days are over.
“I’m 37, so I need it to last. I can’t do high-impact,” she said. “I’ve got to get a bike so I can do bike events.”
But in the chilly, 47-degree weather, about 440 people gathered to run for her at Betar Byway.
They raised “well over” $15,000, all of which will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which uses 100 percent of the funds for research.
In addition to the race, Pliscofsky now wants to start support groups for patients and caregivers.
“There isn’t anything north of Albany,” she said.
Team Fox started with just Pliscofsky and a few friends, raising money and running for Parkinson’s research. Then they organized the 5K/10K race in South Glens Falls to raise even more money. In four years, including three years of the South Glens Falls race, they’ve raised more than $100,000.
It’s personal for Pliscofsky. Her mother Donna has Parkinson’s.
“It’s such a terrible disease. It’s so debilitating,” Pliscofsky said.
But by organizing the South Glens Falls race, she has met dozens of others who are coping with the disease. Runners have shared tips for tricking a family member’s body into movement — Parkinson’s can “freeze” a body mid-step — and for other solutions to common problems with the disease.
One friend told her to put a spoon on the floor when her mother is frozen. Seeing the spoon can trigger the feet to step over it.
In a support group, she said, tips like that could be shared.
A few walkers from Vermont said a support group can make all the difference.
Peggy-Sue and Donald Van Nostrand walked the route with their 3- and 4-year-old daughters. Donald’s father, who lives in Mayfield, has Parkinson’s and just joined a support group, which the family said seems to help.Just getting the diagnosis helped too, because he found immediate relief in medications.
“He seems better than when I first met him,” said Peggy-Sue Van Nostrand.
It’s hard to support him from five hours away, her husband added.
“We just try to support as much as possible — and do things like this,” he said.
The race also made quite an impression on their 4-year-old daughter Aryanna. She wasn’t expecting a life-sized fox, which was waving and cheering on all the participants.
“I’m happy. I like the fox,” she said.
But Morgan, 3, insisted on being carried after tripping at the start of the race. As Donald carried her, he said this was his first 5K. They’d considered using a wagon for the girls, but decided it would be too much of a bother to pull it.
“We’re probably going to regret that now,” he said as Morgan cuddled into his shoulder and seemed quite content to be carried for the next three miles. They only got her to walk with the enticement of having her photo taken by a Post-Star reporter.
A family from Argyle also ran the race because of a loved one.
“My mom has Parkinson’s. So that’s why we’re here,” said Amy Aubrey.
Her husband and their two daughters, ages 15 and 11, also ran the race. Her mother, Ellen Abrahamson, lives in the Fort Hudson Nursing Home.
“It’s hard. It is a difficult thing, watching your parent not be able to control — my mother had the tremors — and she was so active. She raised six kids!” Aubrey said.
But even as the disease progresses, there’s always hope, she said. Her mother recently began doing better.
“She’s learning to walk again,” she said.
You can reach Kathleen Moore at 742-3247 or kmoore@poststar.com. Follow her on Twitter @ByKathleenMoore or at her blog on www.poststar.com.
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