We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the more than 570 ALS Advocates who participated in our 2018 National ALS Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C., this week. Nearly every state in the country was represented and nearly half of the participants were attending for the first time.

The ALS Association is happy to continue our tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through our Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. These awards encourage young scientists to enter and, importantly, to remain in the ALS field.

Each year we go to Capitol Hill to ask for federal funding for ALS research. We ask members to support appropriations for the National ALS Registry at the Centers for Disease Control, the ALS Research Program at the Department of Defense, and ALS research being done through the National Institutes of Health.

Jason Walker believes his greatest accomplishments have come since his diagnosis with ALS – specifically, being a husband and a father. He met his wife, Annie, three years into his ALS diagnosis and they started dating a year later. They were married in 2014.

Thirty-seven-year-old Melissa is a mother to Anthony (14) and Lauren (9). She’s been living with ALS for two years. “I can’t say that I parent any different [since being diagnosed with ALS],” Melissa said. “As a parent, you have to pick and choose your battles and I’ve never been one to sweat the small stuff. But I can see how much my diagnosis has made my children grow and mature.”

“I don’t know how I would have done this without your guidance.” Joumana Baroody heard words like these many times throughout the nine years she worked as a nurse at the ALS Clinic at the University of Chicago. They were spoken by people diagnosed with ALS and their families and caregivers.

I’m proud to be the third person profiled in this series, and I’m happy to be able to tell you my story and why I continue to fight. ALS is a devastating disease. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. While the statistics say the disease typically affects people between the ages of 40 and 70, it can strike anyone at any time, even someone as young as 16 years old.

David is originally from Rockwall, Texas, and is now on what he calls “an extended stay in New Haven, Connecticut.” He has lived with ALS for more than 15 years.

This is the first profile in that series, and it’s written in the volunteer’s own words. Michelle Reynolds Gray has been volunteering to help people with ALS in the St. Louis, Mo., area for more than six years. I met my first person with ALS in early 2012, a 59-year-old man named John. When we met, he was “locked in” and couldn’t respond to me in any way except with tears.

We’re excited to kick off National ALS Awareness Month. The next 31 days will be dedicated to education about the disease and the work happening around the world to find a cure, and to advocating for people with ALS and their caregivers. This year, we’re asking you to Raise Your Voice to elevate the fight against ALS.

Do you have a passion for making your voice heard and empowering others? Do you want to make a difference in the lives of people with ALS? The 16,000+ advocates for The ALS Association are people living with ALS, family members, friends, caregivers, researchers, scientists, and healthcare professionals who are ready to see a world without ALS.

Today, we are happy to be joined by ALS clinician scientist Dr. Peter Creigh from the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., the recipient of the 2018 Clinician Research Training Fellowship in ALS Research. The fellowship is given by The ALS Association, in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

The ALS Association fights for people with ALS every day, leading cutting-edge research to discover treatments and a cure for ALS, and serving, advocating for, and empowering people with the disease to live their lives to the fullest. In honor of Throwback Thursday, let’s look back at the advances in our mission areas of Advocacy, Care Services, and Research during 2017.

This guest post is from Shelly Hoover, EdD, a member of the Patient & Caregiver Advisory Committee, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Association staff, its Board of Trustees, or its chapters.

Did you know we have been using telemedicine since the 1960s? Neil Armstrong and his fellow astronauts wore medical monitoring devices developed by NASA during their first moon landing in 1969. Since then, the use of telemedicine has exploded. Over half of all U.S. hospitals now use some form of telemedicine through more than 200 telemedicine networks.

Each spring, hundreds of ALS Advocates from across the U.S. unite in Washington, D.C., to learn about the latest ALS research, network with each other, and visit Capitol Hill to share their stories with members of Congress and advocate for research and access to care.

(This is the first article in a five-part series highlighting the 2018 recipients of The ALS Association Heroes of Hope Awards.) Mike Maloney is one of the reasons we provide care services to people living with ALS, advocate for legislation that greatly impacts the quality of life of those living with the disease, and fund research toward treatments and a cure for ALS.

On February 12, 2018, the FDA announced its DRAFT Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Developing Drugs for Treatment - Guidance for Industry. A copy of FDA’s draft guidance can be found here.

We always enjoy our time at the annual events hosted by the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations and the MND Association. This year was no exception. We listened, learned, networked, got inspired, caught up with old friends and colleagues, and so much more.