This year I am walking for my mother, Laurel, and in memory of my aunt Lynne and great aunt Janet.
Ten percent of ALS cases are inherited through a mutated gene. This is the case for my family. It wasn't until mom's diagnosis this year that we learned there was a cause to this disease repeatedly impacting us.
ALS is an always fatal neurodegenerative disease in which a person's brain loses connection with their muscles. People with ALS lose their ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. The average life expectancy for those diagnosed with ALS is 2 to 5 years.
In the past few years, there have been incredible advancements in the research and treatment of ALS, including the approval of new drugs to slow the progression of the disease and other clinical trials currently in progress.
The estimated cost to develop a drug to slow or stop the progression of ALS is $2 billion. All money raised in support of this walk goes to the ALS Association, the highest non-profit funder of ALS research in the world outside of the federal government.
Today, there is no cure for ALS but together, we can work to change that.
