FightingForForro Our ALS Challenge
Donation protected
Hereditary ALS, also known as hereditary or familial Motor Neurone Disease (Lou Gehrig’s disease), is a genetic illness with no cure that destroys families. Greg Forrester’s family has felt the cruel blow of hereditary ALS over and over again. He never met his father, Alec, who passed away from the disease before Greg was 1 year’s old. Greg’s brother, Paul passed away 11 years ago at the age of 40. Over the years, cousins, aunts and uncles have all met the same fate. Greg has lived with the threat of this illness hanging over him his whole life.
Unfortunately, just after Christmas, Greg received the devastating diagnosis that he too has the disease and, in fact, it may have already been active in his system for the past year. The life expectancy of a hereditary ALS patient is 15 to 24 months and the disease is already having an obvious impact on Greg’s quality of life. The urgency for finding stabilisation and hopefully regression cannot be overstated.
Thankfully research into slowing the disease progression and eventually finding a cure has started to show some amazing results. Global fundraising activities, such as the ice bucket challenge, have had a huge positive impact on organisations such as the ALS TDI in the US which is devoted to funding research to find a cure for ALS. When Paul was ill, Greg’s Mum donated a substantial amount to ALS TDI to help fund hi tech equipment for this early research. In fact, Greg’s cousin, Sean Scott, was a past President of the Institute until he too, sadly, passed away from the disease in 2009 at the age of 39.
Eventually ALS will no longer be a disease that kills but rather one that may be managed like diabetes. However, they are not quite there yet and our challenge is to keep Greg alive long enough to see the results of this amazing research.
It is expensive to achieve that. There are combinations of supplements that have proven to extend the life of ALS patients. A recently completed trial in Japan using high dose vitamin B12 injections, demonstrated that the life expectancy of an ALS patient was increased by 600 days. We have a real possibility of Greg staying alive and well enough to benefit from the exciting developments that are coming.
The proposed regime will cost Greg and his wife, Vicki, $1,500 / month for a minimum of 2 years. That's $36,000. Add to that the cost of flights to Israel and accommodation for a year so that Greg can access an exciting stem cell trial, expenses are up to $100,000 It is an impossible amount of money for most families, let alone a family who has had to stop work due to the impact of ALS.
We need your help. What we are asking you to do here today is to donate generously so that Greg can be the person in his family line to break the curse of this disease; so that Greg can live to watch his children grow into teenagers and adults and still be around when the grandchildren come along. The depth of gratitude that the family have for your generosity is overwhelming. They know they can't begin to thank you enough. Please donate generously and allow a beautiful family man to live.
Unfortunately, just after Christmas, Greg received the devastating diagnosis that he too has the disease and, in fact, it may have already been active in his system for the past year. The life expectancy of a hereditary ALS patient is 15 to 24 months and the disease is already having an obvious impact on Greg’s quality of life. The urgency for finding stabilisation and hopefully regression cannot be overstated.
Thankfully research into slowing the disease progression and eventually finding a cure has started to show some amazing results. Global fundraising activities, such as the ice bucket challenge, have had a huge positive impact on organisations such as the ALS TDI in the US which is devoted to funding research to find a cure for ALS. When Paul was ill, Greg’s Mum donated a substantial amount to ALS TDI to help fund hi tech equipment for this early research. In fact, Greg’s cousin, Sean Scott, was a past President of the Institute until he too, sadly, passed away from the disease in 2009 at the age of 39.
Eventually ALS will no longer be a disease that kills but rather one that may be managed like diabetes. However, they are not quite there yet and our challenge is to keep Greg alive long enough to see the results of this amazing research.
It is expensive to achieve that. There are combinations of supplements that have proven to extend the life of ALS patients. A recently completed trial in Japan using high dose vitamin B12 injections, demonstrated that the life expectancy of an ALS patient was increased by 600 days. We have a real possibility of Greg staying alive and well enough to benefit from the exciting developments that are coming.
The proposed regime will cost Greg and his wife, Vicki, $1,500 / month for a minimum of 2 years. That's $36,000. Add to that the cost of flights to Israel and accommodation for a year so that Greg can access an exciting stem cell trial, expenses are up to $100,000 It is an impossible amount of money for most families, let alone a family who has had to stop work due to the impact of ALS.
We need your help. What we are asking you to do here today is to donate generously so that Greg can be the person in his family line to break the curse of this disease; so that Greg can live to watch his children grow into teenagers and adults and still be around when the grandchildren come along. The depth of gratitude that the family have for your generosity is overwhelming. They know they can't begin to thank you enough. Please donate generously and allow a beautiful family man to live.
Organizer
Clair Lethbridge
Organizer
Elanora, QLD