| |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Every little bit counts and little bits add up. Throughout the country last year, Packard Center supporters found creative ways to raise large sums for ALS research. Their grass-roots efforts yielded a total of $1,492,924. Here’s a sampling of those fund-raising feats and the people behind them.
 |
|
|
David Deutsch and Northport High School Students
School had been out for weeks, but students from Long Island’s Northport High were about to get their biggest lesson of the year—maybe of their lives.
On a fine June day, 35 teens got up at dawn to board a bus for Baltimore. The destination: The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins. The mission: To present a check for $32,000—money they raised in honor of their science teacher, David Deutsch, who’d been diagnosed with ALS. This wasn’t the first time ALS struck a Northport teacher. Elementary school teacher Chris Pendergast—who’d taught several of the high schoolers—got his ALS diagnosis 11 years earlier. Pendergast raised awareness of the disease with his Ride for Life project, which has netted hundreds of thousands of dollars for ALS research.
Now, with this second blow to their community, students reacted swiftly. They organized fund-raisers to supplement a fund Deutsch’s mother, Jeannette Deutsch Oglesby, and her husband, John T. Oglesby II, M.D., set up at the Packard Center. Leading the effort was the school’s National Honor Society, a group of about 300 students, aided by Deutsch’s fellow teachers Don Strasser and David Storch.
“At most,” says 17-year-old Shaun Hager, “we expected to raise $900 to $1,000. We were shocked when we hit the $10,000 mark!” “After that,” adds classmate Jonathan Foster, “We kept setting the bar higher.”
They began with “Hoops for ALS,” a basketball competition. The effort grew to include a golf tournament and dozens of smaller fund-raisers. Soon the entire Northport community embraced the cause. Says Principal Irene McLaughlin, “These kids took something tragic and turned it positive. They have giant hearts.”
Packard Center Director Jeff Rothstein greeted the group, explaining their donation was one of the largest yet from a diverse community. “Don’t underestimate what your help can do,” Rothstein told them. “Just two years ago, we spent $30,000 on a drug study for ALS. That led to the discovery of a new medicine for ALS and the largest academic clinical trial in the world.
“Adulthood—and medicine—are all about putting your energy into helping others. You’ve mastered that lesson at a young age. I thank you, my research colleagues thank you, and I know all ALS patients thank you,” he said, as David Deutsch and his wife nodded agreement.
 |
|
|
Mike Dawley
Fed up with his weight and high blood pressure in the spring of 2000, Mike Dawley started running. But while playing golf that spring, the 37-year-old purchasing manager for a West Virginia-based chemical plant noticed that his golf club grip was weaker.
Still, he stuck with his fitness regimen, lost 30 pounds and lowered his blood pressure. Puzzled by the continued weakness in his arms, Dawley made a doctor’s appointment. The test’s results were not what he expected. He had ALS.
“My world was turned upside down,” Dawley says. But now, thanks
to the loving support of family and friends, I’ve found hope.”
With an intensity fired by loyalty, Dawley’s co-workers, neighbors and
relatives have mobilized and created a network they call “Just Cure
It.” Together they run marathons and pledge money to support the Packard
Center. This year, members of the enthusiastic bunch participated in one 10k
run, several 5ks, two mini-marathons and the La Salle Bank Chicago Marathon,
where the family ran with 40,000 other participants. So far they’ve
raised more than $60,000.
Dawley, who lives in Morgantown, W.Va., with his wife, Ginger, and two children, is quick to share his outlook: “ALS forces tough choices on you, and I made two early on. First, I’m choosing a positive attitude. Second, I’m choosing to live with ALS, not die from it.”
 |
|
|
Christy Sloan
Christy Sloan grew up in the scenic mountains of Asheville, N.C., trying
to keep pace with four sports-crazed older brothers. True to her outdoorsy
nature, after graduating from Davidson College in 1990, she took off for a
Montana ranch to work as a wrangler.
Sloan subsequently returned to North Carolina to pursue a more sedentary career
with First Union Bank, working her way up from branch manager to vice president.
Naturally, vacations were always spent outdoors.
In December 1998, as she prepared for a ski trip, Sloan noticed twitching and weakness in her left arm and hand. The following May, she learned she had ALS. Incredulous that she—just 30 years old, athletic and independent—could develop such a serious disease, Sloan came to the Packard Center. Director Jeff Rothstein confirmed her fears.
When she could no longer walk, she left her job and moved back home with her parents. They were incredibly supportive, Sloan said, allowing her the space to be self-sufficient for as long as she could. “Losing my independence,” she wrote, using her adapted laptop, “has been the hardest part.”
Inspired by two prominent families stricken with ALS who’ve helped raise money for ALS research, Sloan realized she too could make a difference. And once again her work brought her outdoors, behind the scenes at marathons, golf tournaments and bike races she organized to help find a cure.
Since 2001, when her family fund, ALS Race for Research, was established, the Sloans have raised a combined total of $350,000 for three ALS organizations, including the Center. “And the best thing is,” Sloan said, “I can cheer in the open air for most of those events.”