Susie’s Angels still walking for friendship
Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008
In 2006, a group of friends decided to honor one of their own by raising money to fight the disease that was killing her. The group, Susie's Angels, organized a walk that raised drew 250 participants and raised $ 32, 000 for the ALS Association.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - sometimes known as Lou Gehrig's disease - is a fatal neuromuscular disease that currently affects about 30, 000 people in the United States. The life expectancy of an ALS patient is two to five years from the date of diagnosis, according to the ALS Fact Sheet.
This year, the third annual Walk to Defeat ALS, expected to draw 1, 500 walkers, has a goal of $ 175, 000, according to Kate Kressen, the executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the ALS Association. But she measures the organization's success by the awareness of disease in this area.
"The word of mouth has been overwhelming," Kressen said. "No matter where we go someone has heard of us already."
"The one thing that Sue wanted was to make people more aware of the disease and how this disease is affecting people," she explained, referring to Sue Larson, the woman who inspired her friends to organize that first walk. Larson died in September 2006; her friends are still carrying on.
Kressen expects about five ALS patients and their families to attend the walk. Those teams will be paired with teams organized by one of the walk's sponsors, PepsiCo, she said. Other PepsiCo teams will walk in honor of the four local ALS patients who died in the past year.
"It's all about the families," she said.
About 20 percent of the money raised by the walk will go to research. There's no cure for ALS and no known cause. The rest of the funds, some 80 percent, will stay in the area for patient services.
The local chapter organizes support group meetings and manages an equipment loan closet. Because the disease is progressive, patients need a wide range of equipment, beginning with a walker. Later, there are wheelchairs and hospital beds. Some patients need speech therapy and eventually an augmentative communication device. They can borrow what they need from the equipment closet and trade equipment in as the disease progresses.
Kressen is the only employee of the chapter. Everything else is done by volunteers.
The national ALS Association has made note of the new chapter's progress and national representatives are often in the area, Kressen said. In fact, a new walk video that will be used all over the country to recruit teams for similar walks will be shot in northwest Arkansas this week, she said. Having the president of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 's U. S. division, Eduardo Castro-Wright, as the walk's honorary chair, helps the chapter tremendously, she said.
This year, the Walk to Defeat ALS will be at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. Because of the connection to first baseman Lou Gehrig, who was diagnosed at the height of his career, baseball has always supported the ALS Association, Kressen explained, so the new ballfield seemed the logical place for the signature event.
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