Triathlete loses battle with ALS

07:35 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 29, 2007

BY CAROLYN THORNTON
Journal Sports Writer


Blais
The triathlon community lost a valued friend and competitor Sunday when Jonathan Blais died after a 2-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Known to his friends as the “Blazeman,” the 35-year-old Seekonk native and Rhode Island College graduate waged a valiant war against the disease, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after being diagnosed on May 2, 2005.

Realizing that those with ALS usually die within two to five years after being diagnosed, the special-education teacher worked tirelessly to create more awareness about the neurodegenerative disease that relentlessly attacks the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord and for which there is still no cure.

Documenting his efforts on his Web site ( http://www.alswarriorpoet.com), Blais mobilized an army of triathletes — called Team Blazeman Warriors — to help with his war on ALS. He and that dedicated group of friends have spent the last two years holding fundraisers throughout the United States to support the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapy Development Fund, a nonprofit biotech company in Cambridge, Mass., dedicated to finding effective treatments for individuals with ALS.

In 2005, Blais became the first competitor suffering with ALS to complete the prestigious and grueling Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Wheelchair bound the following year, he was forced to watch the event as a spectator. Brian Breen — a 31-year-old banker from Tinley Park, Ill. — completed the 2006 event in tribute to Blais.

In accepting an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Edited Sports Special for the 2006 Ford Ironman World Championship at the 28th-annual Sports Emmy Awards Ceremony, Ironman’s executive television producer, Peter Henning, announced that the award was being dedicated to Blais and his family.

Blais was also named the Competitor of the Year at the 15th-annual Competitor Endurance Sports Awards, held last February in San Diego.

Blais’ parents, Mary Ann and Bob, sent out this e-mail following their son’s death on Sunday:

Dear Friends,

Jonathan passed away at approx 8:30 Sunday, May 27, 2007.

He was a great son, brother, uncle and friend. We shall miss him more than you know.

He lost this battle in hopes others may win the war. Donations to the Blazeman Foundation or Jonathan S. Blais Scholarship fund would be appreciated. … Please keep up the fight that Jon started 2 yrs ago in his honor.

Mary Ann and Bob Blais

cthorn@projo.com