Sally Dwyer is the Director of Mission Strategy & Integration for the Mid-America Chapter at The ALS Association. She has worked with the Association for 26 years and has experienced many moments and milestones throughout her career serving people impacted by ALS.
Our family’s journey with ALS was no doubt the saddest and hardest thing we ever encountered. But we managed to stay strong through it, and the entire experience brought us all even closer together. In the end, it became the most special and magical journey our family ever had together.
We recently spoke with Kathleen Poirier - wife, mother, and a person living with ALS. Kathleen and her family live in Florida and have been very involved with The ALS Association Florida Chapter. Here is what Kathleen had to say about her family’s journey with ALS in her own words.
Gail and Paul Dotson wanted to donate to their friend Dave’s Walk to Defeat ALS® team, Pam’s Pals. The Dotson’s grew pumpkins all summer and engaged their grandchildren in the harvest, sale, and donation process.
We recently talked with Bandon Staple, one of this year’s award recipients, to learn a little more about his connection to ALS, what receiving the scholarship means to him, and what his future plans are in healthcare.
We recently talked with Cierra Abbott, one of this year’s award recipients, to learn a little more about her personal connection to ALS, what receiving the scholarship means to her, and what her future plans are.
We recently talked with Hastings Moffitt, one of this year’s award recipients, to learn a little more about her connection to ALS, what receiving the scholarship means to her, and what her future plans are in healthcare.
We recently talked with Chandler Brestel, one of this year’s award recipients, to learn a little more about her connection to ALS, what receiving the scholarship means to her, and what her future plans are in healthcare.
Just as ALS did not stop for COVID-19, the Walk to Defeat ALS® did not stop. The simple fact is, we can’t wait for COVID-19 to end before we walk. Instead, chapters across the country have been coming up with innovative ways to move this signature event into virtual spaces, creating new opportunities for our communities to come together in unity to keep building a world without ALS.
About 10 percent of all cases of ALS are due to genetic mutations and are inherited from a family member. If there are two or more family members with ALS, the disease is considered familial, and there is a 50% chance of passing that mutation on to each of his or her children. For siblings Jim Weber and Cathy Kettner, it’s the 50-50 proposition that brings them to the fight.
Meet Connor Way. Connor is your typical 8-year-old boy: he loves to play outside with his friends, go to school, and spend time with his family, especially his grandfather he calls “Papa.” But there’s something different about Connor’s story, his “Papa” had ALS.
Carianne Meystrik has been living with ALS for 22 years – all while raising 4 children. In honor of Mother’s Day, we reached out to Carianne to check in on her ALS journey and her family, and to get her reflections on the impact ALS has had on motherhood.
Gary Trosper was a transportation executive before he was diagnosed with ALS in 2015. After two years, he was forced to retire due to his symptoms, but he knew he didn’t want to just sit around: he wanted to make a difference. Acting as an advocate and taking action for himself and others is very important to him.
Before he was diagnosed with ALS in June 2018, Troy Fields was a hardworking businessman, devoted husband, and father. He had a job that he loved as a manager for a multinational company with responsibilities in Latin America. He traveled a lot, and when he wasn’t working, he was spending quality time with his family. But in 2017, he started to sense something was physically wrong.
National Volunteer Week kicks off today. The weeklong celebration of volunteers began in 1974 and honors the people who come together and volunteer their time and resources to solve some of the world’s greatest problems.
Until he was diagnosed, Bob Palucki didn’t really know anything about ALS. “It really didn’t affect anybody in my family,” he says. “We’ve come so far in all the different medicines for all the different diseases and to think that we’ve got a disease as terrible as this and there’s no cure for it, there’s not even anything that can stop it from progressing.”
When the Biology Honors class kicked off a special course to learn more about neurological diseases, they turned it into a unified effort to educate their community and raise over $3,000 for ALS research. The ALS Association spoke to some of the folks behind the project.
The ALS Association has awarded $225,000 in scholarships to 45 inaugural recipients of the Jane Calmes ALS Scholarship Fund. The Fund provides financial support to students impacted by ALS.
The ALS Association is pleased to share results from our recent community survey. We were interested in hearing about programs and services that people reported as being important, reasons why people were not accessing some programs, major challenges, and issues around medications. Information gained from the survey will be incorporated in to care services planning activities and will be used to inform strategic planning, priority setting, program outcomes, and program improvements.
We launched the Challenge Me campaign last week. Challenge Me picks up where the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge left off. This time, we are challenging the world to do anything and everything they can to help end ALS.