Hope Is On the March: Organizers of May 7 Woodbridge ALS Walk see new medical breakthroughs in struggle against killer disease |
May 1, 2006
Mayor: “Every step we take brings us closer to finding a cure for ALS ”
New report cites increased ALS risk for Gulf War veterans
For the first time in years, walkers taking part in this Sunday’s annual Woodbridge Walk to D’Feet ALS have some encouraging news to guide their steps.
At the April, 2006 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego, ALS researchers from around the world had an opportunity to share the most recent advances in the field.
Among the highlights:
▪ Establishment of a Stanford University-based consortium to steer research toward possible environmental, lifestyle and genetic risk factors in ALS.
▪ Success of new genetic therapies in animal subjects in a project developed by Children’s Hospital of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin.
▪ New clues from Northwestern University researchers on why Gulf War veterans have been reported to be at two-fold increased risk of developing ALS.
“Every step we take brings us closer to finding a cure for ALS,” says Woodbridge Township Mayor Frank G. Pelzman. “The more people we have walking, the more steps that makes.”
According to the ALS Association’s latest publication, Pathways to Hope: The State of Research into Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the search for answers to the mysteries of ALS has begun to attract attention from among the world’s finest scientific minds:
More progress in understanding the disease mechanism of ALS and in uncovering new insight into potential treatment has been achieved in the last decade than at any time since ALS was first described by Jean-Martin Charcot more than a century ago. – Pathways to Hope, Preface, pg. i.
ALS experts express cautious hope that in another ten years, new treatments will be available that may significantly alter the course of the disease that kills nearly 6,000 Americans a year.
TheWoodbridge Walk to D’Feet ALS takes place May 7 at 11 a.m. in Alvin P. Williams Memorial Park at Sewaren Peninsula with a 10 a.m. registration. Call (732) 602-6015 for information.
To participate as Team Captain or Walker, email Abby Anderson at walkersofhope@aol.com or call Donna Jagoat the Mayor’s Office, (732) 602-6015.
The first Woodbridge Walk in 2004 drew 250 walkers and donations of $25,000. Last year’s Walk pulled 850 walkers and $190,000 in donations. Organizers have set a goal this year for 1500 walkers and $250,000 in donations.
“These walks are so important,” says Woodbridge Walk organizerAbby Anderson, whose father, Ira, succumbed to ALS in 2004. “People must know that every dollar raised goes to research that will hasten the day when ALS no longer exists on this planet.”
There is renewed urgency on another front with the release of a Harvard University School of Public Health study showing that military personnel on active duty during the first Gulf War were nearly twice as likely to develop ALS as those not serving in the Gulf.
Previously, the most well-established “ALS cluster” was among the Chamorro people of Guam, where a high percentage of the population developed a disease termed “ALSPDC” (ALS-Parkinsonism-Dementia Complex) in which patients developed symptoms of all three of these diseases.
The Harvard study did not, however, address why Gulf War veterans have an increased risk of developing ALS, or what the trigger may be. Future research will focus on these questions.
“ Woodbridge Township is pleased to marshal every resource we have to support this cause,” says Mayor Pelzman. “We have the opportunity to play an important role in conquering a dreaded disease during our lifetime.”
To participate as Team Captain or Walker, email Woodbridge Walk coordinator Abby Anderson at walkersofhope@aol.com or call Donna Jagoat the Woodbridge Township Mayor’s Office (732) 602-6015.
For information on current ALS research, contact the Neuromuscular & ALS Center at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick at (732) 235-7331. http://www2.umdnj.edu/nmalsweb/
** A.L.S. F.A.Q.s **
▪ Every 90 minutes, an American dies of ALS.
▪ There are an average of 15 new ALS cases each day in the U.S.
▪ ALS knows no racial, ethnic or socio-economic boundaries; it can strike anyone at any time.
▪ The average life expectancy for a person with ALS is 2-5 years from the time of diagnosis.
▪ It costs an estimated $642,000 per year to serve an ALS patient and their family.
▪ The ALS Association has awarded nearly $30 million since 1991 for scientific and clinical management research.
▪ Progress in understanding ALS has resulted in FDA approval of Riluzole™, the first drug to actually prolong life in ALS patients, and many more drugs are in clinical trials or earlier stages of development.
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MIS Department
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