Walking for ALS awareness
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Emporia, Kans. — Jones Park will be packed Saturday with people hoping for a cure for ALS.
ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a debilitating disease that traps a person in a body that doesn’t work. Right now, there is no cure, but through donations and events like the Walk to d’feet ALS, research is being done to find a cause and a cure.
The fifth annual Walk to d’feet ALS will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday in Jones Park in Emporia. Donations go to benefit the Keith Worthington Chapter, which provides services throughout Kansas, and Central and Western Missouri at no cost. Money raised from the walk will go to benefit local patients.
ALS is a fatal neuromuscular disorder.
“It’s probably the worst ones known to man,” said Jean Haley of the ALS Association in Wichita.
Haley said, once diagnosed, people with the disease usually live two to five years. The individual is faced with loss of ability to control their muscles, to move, to speak and eventually to swallow and breathe. ALS destroys motor neuron cells, severing the connection that allows the brain to communicate with muscles.
“Their minds are very active and creative,” Haley said. “They are trapped in a body that doesn’t work.”
Haley said every 90 minutes a person dies from ALS and every 90 minutes, a person is diagnosed ALS in the United States. Because of the high mortality rate, only about 30,000 people have the disease in the United States at one time. That figure equates to difficulty in research funding, which is why local chapters work hard to raise funds for research and support services. Last year, Emporia raised more than $15,000 in the Walk to d’feet ALS.
Services offered by the Keith Worthington Chapter include in-home visits, support groups for patients, families, caregivers and survivors; patient and family education programs; referral services; in-service training to health care professionals; equipment loan pools; and money also goes to research.
Gary Ace, a dentist in Emporia, works hard to coordinate local efforts for the ALS Walk. He said the work done in the ALS Association does not go unnoticed.
“It’s truly a labor of love for these people,” Ace said.
It is very difficult to diagnose ALS, Ace added.
“But it touches a lot of people,” he said, noting several people that he knew died of ALS.
Ace said people can come Saturday to either participate in the walk or just hang out.
“You don’t have to walk,” Ace said. “You can mingle. You do not even have to be on a team.”
Although donations are appreciated, they are not required. People simply can show up and learn, Ace said.