Walk to tackle ALS to be held virtually on Sunday
The coronavirus pandemic put everyone at a standstill for close to three months. But the battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) continues.
Like so many other organizations, the ALS Society was forced to go digital through the health crisis. This Sunday, the Walk to End ALS — the largest volunteer-led fundraiser for ALS groups across Canada — will occur virtually.
The event coincides with Father’s Day and global ALS Awareness Day. Participants are encouraged to participate — while raising donations — and also decorate their homes, porches, front lawns and windows.
Unlike previous years, when an organized walk would follow a predetermined route, this year’s event is casual, leisurely and unorganized. Participants can walk as much, or as little, as they choose at any time throughout the day.
“The dynamics have been challenging,” said Claudine Cook, executive director of the ALS Society of Quebec. “We’re trying to get people to take action. Every bit helps. We have to keep going, more than ever. Our families need us. There have been all kinds of challenges for our families during COVID.
“People love that in-person (relationship) when our communities connect, but people are responding,” added Cook, in her 16th year working with the society. “Is it more difficult? Of course. But we’re sending the message we’re still there and keeping everybody connected.”
As of Friday afternoon, more than $128,000 had been raised in Quebec, with an objective of $200,000. But Cook said the society is expecting to raise 50 per cent less than normal before year-end because of the health crisis. The walk raised $300,000 last year in Quebec, she said.
ALS, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease — named after the former New York Yankees star — is a motor neurone disease. It gradually paralyzes people once the brain no longer can communicate with the body’s muscles. Someone living with ALS will lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, swallow and, eventually, breathe. There’s no cure for the disease and few treatment options. Approximately 80 per cent of people given an ALS diagnosis die within two to five years.
The disease has had a profound affect on former Montreal Alouettes players.
Larry Uteck, a defensive back who played for four Canadian Football League teams, including Montreal from 1978-80, died from it in 2002, at age 50.
But fullback Michael Soles has continued living with ALS 15 years after a diagnosis in 2005. While Soles, 53, is unable to speak, he can communicate via text messages, typing with his eyes through special glasses.
“I’m doing fine,” Soles told the Montreal Gazette on Friday, noting he’ll participate in Sunday’s event with his children and the family’s dog.
As much as Gehrig’s name has become synonymous with the disease, no former Alouette and Montreal native personified ALS more than Tony Proudfoot. A native of Pointe-claire, Proudfoot played defensive back for the Als from 1971-79, before completing his career with three seasons with the B.C. Lions.
A teacher, coach, broadcaster and journalist, Proudfoot was given a diagnosis in May 2007, went public with his condition a month later and died in December 2010, at age 61. Prior to his death, Proudfoot wrote a brilliant and poignant story for the Montreal Gazette, detailing his battle.
“It’s hard,” said his widow, Vicki, a mother of three and a grandmother to five. “It’s been almost 10 years ( but) it doesn’t get any easier. You adjust, but I feel so sad for my kids. I feel badly that (Tony) never got to see his children get married, have grandchildren or even retire and enjoy that part of our life. “I think about him all the time.” The family is committed to the walk and has made it their one annual ALS event, realizing the difficulties the society has had fundraising this year.
Retired Montreal broadcaster Rick Moffat also will hold Proudfoot’s memory close to his heart this weekend. Moffat is the former radio voice of the Als and the Impact. Proudfoot served as Moffat’s Alouettes analyst, and travel companion, from 1998 until the team’s two-point loss at Winnipeg during the 2007 playoffs. Indeed, Proudfoot remained in the booth that season although his speech already had started to slur.
“He was such an amazing character in every sense of the word,” Moffat said. “He was a man of great moral character. He taught me so much about football. But I also saw Tony, the family man. How committed he was.”
Moffat, who lives near Morin Heights in the Laurentians, will spend an hour walking five kilometres around a lake near his home.
People are asked to donate online at als-quebec.ca. They can also text ACTION to 20222.