ALS patient steps up to the plate in his battle against ALSWade Simoneaux is using his Batter Up for a Cure Foundation to fund ALS research and to raise awareness. 
Wade Simoneaux, pictured today with his best friends Kevin and Jenny Campbell, started the Batter Up for a Cure Foundation to help fund ALS research and raise awareness of the disease in young people.
If the first twenty years of Wade Simoneaux’s life were filled with his three loves -- family, friends and baseball -- the next fifteen would be focused on the fight of his life.
A collegiate baseball player at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, Simoneaux had been living with chronic leg cramps for almost four years when he began experiencing periodic numbness in his right arm. As his athletic skills began to decline, and after visits to a sports medicine expert, Simoneaux would eventually be diagnosed with ALS six weeks shy of his twenty-first birthday. “It's quite unusual for ALS to be diagnosed in such a young person,” notes Jeff Rothstein, a Hopkins neurologist and director of the Packard Center for ALS Research. Most ALS patients are diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 75, with the majority diagnosed after the age of 60. “Of course, a diagnosis of ALS at any age is unpleasant. Newer research suggests at least some young ALS patients may have rare genetic forms of ALS. Further aggressive research - we deeply hope - can change this,” Rothstein added. After Simoneaux got over the initial shock of the diagnosis, he went on to graduate with honors from St. Edwards University and pursue his lifelong dream of coaching high school baseball. In 2001 he took the Eagles of St. Thomas High School in Houston to a victory at the Texas state championship. In 1999, feeling the need to channel his energies into something positive, Simoneaux founded the Batter Up for a Cure Foundation, which supports ALS research organizations, including the Packard Center. “My parents and I took a trip to Baltimore just to meet Dr. Rothstein and take a look at the operation at Johns Hopkins,” notes Simoneaux. “I came away so impressed with him and his staff that I decided to make the Packard Center my primary beneficiary for our foundation.” Although ALS research is a primary target of the work of Batter Up, Simoneaux also believes in raising awareness of the disease. Each year their annual dinner features a science update and other events to help raise awareness about the disease in a younger audience. Rita Sattler, an ALS researcher and Packard Center volunteer, attended the last Batter Up dinner and spoke about the current state of Packard research. “Wade is 100% committed to ALS research. He is convinced that we [as researchers] will find treatments and maybe even a cure for this disease,” notes Sattler. “He is a true fighter and will not let this disease slow him down. He is a true athlete – always striving for better.”  | | Before the onset of ALS, Wade Simoneaux was a baseball standout at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. |
Simoneaux, despite his disability, keeps fighting and has big plans for Batter Up. This winter he will celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of his diagnosis with two Batter Up Live concert events in Austin and Houston as well as his annual dinner and a March Madness Bracket Challenge. Despite the challenges of living with ALS, Simoneaux remains upbeat and focused. “I’m not in this for myself,” he notes. “I want to help in any way I can, especially with those who are diagnosed at such a young age. I can help them deal with the disease and its effects.” – Suzanne Connelly
 | Watch Wade's Story > My struggle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I was diagnosed with ALS before my 21st birthday. |
| 
