Before Harold was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 2012, neither of us had ever heard of it. Oh, we had heard of Lou Gehrig, the baseball player, and that he had some kind of disease, but we knew nothing about it.  I will never forget the day that Dr Carras told Harold that he had the disease and what it would mean.  With tears running down my face, I remember thinking “this is a death sentence!”  and it was!!  Dr Carras explained that there was no cure and no treatment for the disease.  Since we lived in Winston-Salem, Harold was able to be a patient at the ALS Clinic at Wake Forest Medical Center.  This was one of only 3 ALS Clinics in the state at that time.  What a blessing this was!  We could not have made it through the following 2 years without the help of all of the wonderful people at the Clinic, where all of Harold’s doctors, therapists and social workers were under one roof.

Unfortunately, there is still no cure and no treatment for this horrible disease.  There has been some promising research done in the past few years with an exciting prospect being developed here at Wake Forest. They are working with a protein that will help stop the progression of the disease.   Every 90 minutes someone else is diagnosed with ALS – men, women, young and old. The ALS Walk is one of the main sources of funding for research, as well as funding for the ALS Clinics in NC and for grants to help those with ALS pay their medical bills and living expenses and maintain medical supply closets.  So please join with me in fighting this terrible disease by joining my team, Harold’s Gang, to walk in the Walk to Defeat ALS on May 13;  and/or making a donation to the ALS Association.  Ask your friends, family and co-workers to join you in the fight to defeat ALS.  Thank you so much for your support!!!