Nearly 1,200 people participated in the ALS Association’s seventh annual Walk to Defeat ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), held outside the University Veterinary School on Saturday.
The three-mile, non-competitive walk on the levee functioned as an opportunity for the community to fundraise and increase awareness about ALS.
Jamie Craig, walk coordinator, said the event started seven years ago with a couple hundred participants and has grown each year. The philanthropic walk has also expanded its fundraising efforts — $177,000 was collected last year, and this year the group is working toward a goal of $185,000, Craig said.
Beyond fundraising and raising awareness, the walk is about celebrating life, Craig said. The event had a spacewalk, face painting and jambalaya for participants to enjoy.
“It’s a day of fun for the patients and their families,” Craig said. “Once you are diagnosed, you don’t really ever hear good news again.”
ALS is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy from a lack of use. The disease results in paralysis and eventually death, according to the ALS Association.
Statistics compiled by the association indicate that 5,600 people are diagnosed with ALS each year. The disease effects men and women equally, and most diagnosed are between the ages of 40 and 70.
Nearly all attendees’ lives had been affected by a friend or family member who had the disease. Craig became involved with the organization when her friend’s mother was diagnosed with ALS.
Andrew Maberry, communication studies senior, has been volunteering at the event since he was a freshman.
“Lou Gehrig was a member of my fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, and supporting ALS functions is our fraternity’s philanthropic focus nationally,” he said.
Carrie Vannoy and her group of 60 family members and friends have been attending the walk since Vannoy’s stepson, Ron Vannoy, was diagnosed with ALS and died from the disease four years ago.
“We’re here to remember Ron and raise money,” Vannoy said. “The disease is still incurable.”
 
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Contact Josh Naquin at [email protected]