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Walk for ALS nearly doubles fundraising goal

The 15th Annual Walk for ALS expects to raise more than $36,000 for research and client services for people living with ALS.

THUNDER BAY - For Murray Brown, who lives with ALS, talking about a disease that dramatically changes a person’s life is something we should not shy away from.

On Saturday, hundreds of people joined in the conversation about the disease during the 15th Annual Walk for ALS at Boulevard Lake.

“I think that’s where it should be all the time, where people are talking about ALS and not afraid to be asking the hard questions that need to be asked and asking patients how they feel and how they cope,” Brown said. “I think that’s all part of the process of getting the word out and raising awareness, which is instrumental in my opinion.”

Brown, a former Staff Sergeant with the Thunder Bay Police Service, was diagnosed with ALS five years ago. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, causes the neurons that control voluntary muscle movement to die.

“I think it’s very important for the walk to bring awareness to the community and show support to those living with ALS and supporting a family or friend of those living with ALS,” Brown said.

This year, more than 250 people participated in the walk, and Kim Barry, regional manager for ALS Canada, said the goal of raising $20,000 was easily surpassed and before the walk even began, and this year more than $36,000 was raised.

“It’s pretty phenomenal,” she said. “It’s very unexpected. The Thunder Bay community has always been extremely supportive of ALS and we are so grateful. This has just been an amazing turnout of people.”

“It’s a great turnout and it makes me very proud of the support ALS gets from the Thunder Bay community,” Brown added. “There are a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time that were able to make it for Team Brown. It’s great. It’s a lot more than last year. It was great to see a really great turnout from the community.”

However, while the larger turnout does provide more money for research and client services, Barry said it also indicates that more families are now struggling with the disease.

“Unfortunately there has been some new people diagnosed with ALS in Thunder Bay and the surrounding area,” she said. “I think it gets people involved and even if people don’t live in this community, they chose to participate in the walk that’s closest to them. So their family members may live in this area as well.”

ALS received a lot media attention a few years ago with the Ice-Bucket Challenge. However, Barry said it’s important to raise awareness about the disease because it still remains rather unknown.

“People are still not completely familiar with ALS being a terminal illness,” she said. “People who are diagnosed have a life expectancy of two to five years. The goal is to provide as much independence and as much support as possible during the progression of their illness.”

Brown said it was a pleasant surprise to see so many people come out to the walk and raise so much money. His team alone doubled their goal of raising $3,000. But Brown added that he hopes to see the walk continue to grow, year after year, to keep the conversation going.

“As more awareness comes out, just like all the other walks that happen in Thunder Bay during the course of the season, I think momentum will hopefully increases and get great turnouts like we did today,” he said.



Doug Diaczuk

About the Author: Doug Diaczuk

Doug Diaczuk is a reporter and award-winning author from Thunder Bay. He has a master’s degree in English from Lakehead University
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