Dr. Heidi Tarr Henson, a Massachusetts woman recently diagnosed with ALS, reflects on on in-the-moment advocacy, teachable moments and the power of setting boundaries with ourselves and others.

The ALS Association Florida Chapter recaps fiscal year 2020-21 by discussing accomplishments made that drive forward our vision and some fundraising/event downfalls due to COVID-19.

Through word of mouth, Stuart and his wife Marcia found five or six families in their community who were also dealing with the impact of an ALS diagnosis. They started an informal support group. The group started working with the chapter relations team at The ALS Association and formed The ALS Association Alabama Chapter.

You may know the old saying “ship shape.” In many ways, that old reference to order and fitness defined Yvette Wilson’s life. She joined the United States Navy immediately after high school and the discipline that experience gave her has shaped her life in many ways. Even after she left the Navy, she lived an orderly life, blessed with good health and a loving family in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

All signs pointed to a wonderful future, until one day she started experiencing a heaviness in her feet.

We recently spoke with Amber Letters - daughter, wife, mother, and part time caregiver of a person living with ALS. Amber and her family live in Pittsburgh and have been very involved with The ALS Association Western Pennsylvania Chapter. Here is what Amber had to say about her family’s journey with ALS in her own words.

I was diagnosed with ALS in 2017. Even in the face of a global pandemic, we can’t wait to pursue the treatments and a cure that will end ALS. The people living with and working to end this disease aren’t quitters. They’re fighters to the last breath.

We can’t wait for this pandemic to be over to continue serving and supporting our communities. Here are 7 things you can do right now to support people living 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?

The ALS Association has published community guidelines for our social media channels. We review and update them regularly to stay current with best practices and the expressed wishes of our community.

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.

Last week, Pete Frates and Pat Quinn unveiled a new campaign – Challenge Me -- to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and reengage the millions around the world who took the Challenge. Pat and Pete brought the Challenge Me ethos to life with the Ice Bucket Challenge and they have continued to inspire the entire ALS community over the last five years.

The ALS Association is launching a campaign to engage kids and teenagers in the fight against ALS, issuing the ALS Youth Challenge and celebrating the first-ever ALS Youth Action Day. Our chapters across the country will be partnering with youth organizations in their communities to identify future activists and philanthropists who will help to defeat ALS by accepting the ALS Youth Challenge.

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.

The ALS Association teamed up with a group of expert data analysts at Mastercard who spent more than 24 consecutive hours to help our national office and chapters gather insights into improving operations and strategies to advance our mission to find a cure for ALS.