Before his diagnosis, John Russo had two fears: the first was getting attacked by a shark while fishing at night, and the second was being diagnosed with ALS. He managed to avoid the sharks, but not ALS. After taking a few weeks to process what the rest of his life would look like, he realized he needed to face down his biggest fear and keep going. He found a new purpose: making life better for people living with ALS across the country, as well as deepening research efforts to learn more about the disease.
We support the A.C.T. for ALS Act (H.R. 7071) and believe it should be strengthened by helping fund ALS research and by ensuring people with ALS in clinical trials can continue receiving treatments that may be helping them. We believe these steps will help improve its chances for passage and ensure it helps even more people with ALS.
With many ALS drugs now in phase II and III clinical trials, The ALS Association is considering strategies that will ensure any new treatments are accessible and affordable. We used our second ALS Roundtable to explore several important questions for our community including: How will these new therapies get paid for? How can people access to them? How long will it take to get access?
Bipartisan Legislation Eliminates Five-Month Waiting Period for SSDI Benefits for People Diagnosed with ALS
The ALS Disability Insurance Access Act was reintroduced in the 116th Congress this week as S.578 in the Senate by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). Representatives Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Peter King (R-NY) introduced the companion bill in the House as H.R.1407.
Every two years, hundreds of ALS health care professionals come together to discuss new trends, share best practices and guidelines, exchange ideas and successes, and talk about challenges and potential solutions. To capture the collaborative power of the 2018 event in Fort Worth, Texas – our largest-ever Clinical Conference, with more than 500 attendees – we put together a short video highlight reel.
At our most recent clinical conference, we honored Frances (Fran) McClellan with the Lawrence A. Rand Prize. The award recognizes the courage, passion, integrity, and commitment of people serving the ALS community as volunteers, health care professionals, educators, communicators, or in other ways contributing to the quality of life of people living with ALS. It was established by Lawrence Rand, a former chairman of the Association’s Board of Trustees who played a major role in laying the cornerstone of what is now The ALS Association.
We had the pleasure of joining ALS scientists, clinicians, health care professionals, industry and advocacy partners, and, most importantly, people with ALS and their families at the annual events hosted by the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations and the MND Association last month. It’s always a great opportunity to come together and learn from each other.
Our friend Ted Harada passed away this week. Many of you may have known him. Ted was first diagnosed with ALS in August 2010 and immediately became a tireless advocate, volunteer, and voice of the ALS community.