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Our Connection with ALS
Bailey Tax & Accounting, Inc. believes in giving back to the community through organizations like the ALS Association. We have a strong connection with ALS and the ALS Association through Kevin Bailey, who passed away in January 2008 due to this horrific disease. Bailey Tax & Accounting matched over $6,000 given to "Kevin's ALS Warriors" for the Walk to Defeat ALS this past year, and we raised over $13,000 in 2010 alone for the ALS Association. Since our team started walking in the Walk to Defeat ALS, Kevin's ALS Warriors has raised over $100,000 for the ALS Association. We believe that people need to be aware of this horrific disease and we will not stop our efforts until a cure has been found.
Kevin
Bailey, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
on October
15th, 2002. This horrific disease slowly deteriorated his body from
the
strong man he once was. As his body deteriorated, his mind was always
strong.
Amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease,"
is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in
the
brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the
spinal
cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The
progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually lead to
their
death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate
and
control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action
progressively
affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become
totally
paralyzed. Yet, through it all, for the vast majority of people, their
minds
remain unaffected. A-myo-trophic
comes from the Greek language. "A" means no or negative.
"Myo" refers to muscle, and "Trophic" means
nourishment---"No muscle nourishment." When a muscle has no
nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral"
identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the
nerve
cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area
degenerates
it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region. As motor
neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle
fibers that
normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include
increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs,
speech,
swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages
from the
motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to
atrophy
(become smaller). Limbs begin to look "thinner" as muscle tissue
atrophies. What Types of Nerves Make Your Body
Work Properly? (from Living with ALS, Manual 1:
What's It All About?) The
body has many kinds of nerves. There are those involved in the process
of thinking, memory, and of detecting sensations (such as hot/cold,
sharp/dull), and others for vision, hearing, and other bodily
functions. The nerves that are affected when you have
ALS are the motor neurons that provide voluntary movements
and muscle power. Examples of voluntary movements
are your making the effort to reach for the phone or step off a curb;
these actions are controlled by the muscles in the arms and legs. The
heart and the digestive system are also made of muscle but a different
kind, and their movements are not under voluntary control. When your
heart beats or a meal is digested, it all happens automatically.
Therefore, the heart and digestive system are not involved in ALS.
Breathing also may seem to be involuntary. Remember, though, while you
cannot stop your heart, you can hold your breath - so be aware that ALS
may eventually have an impact on breathing. Although
the cause of ALS is not completely understood, the recent years have
brought a
wealth of new scientific understanding regarding the physiology of this
disease. While
there is not a cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS,
there is one
FDA approved drug, Rilutek®, that modestly slows the
progression of ALS as well
as several other drugs in clinical
trials that hold promise. Importantly,
there are significant
devise and therapies that can manage the symptoms of ALS that help
people
maintain as much independence as possible and prolong
survival. It is
important to remember that ALS is a quite variable disease; no two
people will
have the same journey or experiences. There are medically
documented
cases of people in whom ALS ‘burns out,’ stops
progressing or progresses at a
very slow rate. No matter what your individual course or
situation may
be, The ALS Association and your medical team are here to help. To learn
more about the personal stories of people who are living fully, click here.
As one man put
it, “I’ve made ALS part of my life, not my whole
life.” We
are fortunate to have had Kevin with us over the
past five
years, and pray there is a cure soon so that no person will ever have
to
face this horrific disease in the future!! Every
year, we walk to raise money
for a cure for ALS.
This past year was another exciting walk and I ask you to please
consider
sponsoring
us in this endeavor. Any amount is greatly appreciated! .
This
year, we will be proudly walking with over 65,000 patients, men,
women,
and children in order to raise funds in support of nationally driven
cutting-edge ALS research and community-based patient services
programs. This
year marks the eighth year that The ALS Association has been working to
fight
ALS through their Walk to D’Feet ALS program.
If you would like to donate to Kevin's Warriors, or walk with us, please contact a member of our office to learn how you can help!
Every
90 minutes a person in this
country is diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes another person will
lose
their battle against this disease. ALS occurs throughout the world with
no
racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries. If you choose to walk with
me, you
will be a part of an exciting, empowering event for patients, family
members,
friends, companies and organizations across the country; all of whom
are
walking to support comprehensive patient service programs and
leading-edge ALS
research. |
