Here it is August already and time to start my campaign to raise funds to help those who are struggling to survive ALS and to provide support for their loved ones.
I started riding over 15 years ago in honor of my friend Doug McGuiness, who ultimately succumbed after more than a dozen years of battling ALS. This year, I am again riding in memory of Jill Donna Shapiro (pictured above), beloved twin sister of our dear friend Judith Alpert. Jill passed away about 3 years ago, a victim of Bulbar ALS, which is a particularly aggressive and cruel form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS (better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) attacks the motor neurons in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, eventually leaving its victims incapable of any muscle control, but it does not affect, in a physical way, the mind; which means that the victim is totally aware of his or her condition, even if he or she is unable to move, speak or swallow.
As hard as the disease is on its victims, it is hardly less torturous for the victim's loved ones. Doug's wife, Pat, devoted the better part of 15 years to Doug's care, and Judith ceaselessly attended her dying sister for many months. The emotional and physical strain is barely imaginable.
Thanks to the ALS Association, there is help for the victims and for their families, and there is real hope for more. Further progress has been made in producing artificial speech - a synthesizer that will imitate a person's normal voice, if the voice is recorded while the victim is capable of speech. Still, there is no cure, for ALS, but everything that can be done to ease the suffering of the afflicted should be done. This takes money, and that is why I am doing this again this year.
Please join me by giving generously to the ALS Association.
Prefer to make a donation by check? Click here for a printable donation form!
