Friday, August 10, 2007
Professor Stephen Hawing helps raise awareness of ALS/MND
- rod @ 10:15 PST
Professor Stephen Hawing helps raise awareness of ALS/MND

I have ALS
It is a progressive degenerative disease of the nervous system.
I have had it for 40 years.
I cannot walk or talk,
But I can write books, travel the world, and even float in zero gravity.
Most ALS patients don’t survive for 5 years,
But a few, like me, live longer.
--------
Thousands of ALS patients die every year
Help them live longer.

This is the text of a new international campaign aimed at raising awareness to ALS/MND. This is a very special campaign - its staring actor is no else than Professor Stephen Hawking. Prof. Hawking also wrote the above lines which he himself reads in the short video he agreed to participate in after meeting three of the leading figures in IsrALS – the Israeli ALS association.

It all began in November 2006, when Prof. Hawking visited Israel. He agreed to meet with Mr. Nir Tsoran CEO of IsrALS, Mr. Dov Lautman, president of IsrALS and the “Israel Prize” laureate, and Prof. Peretz Lavie, the vice President of the Technion University. The three men came to this meeting with a surprising agenda – they got Prof. Hawking's approval to participate in an international campaign to raise awareness to the terrible disorder he suffers from – ALS/MND. They felt that the physical disabilities of Hawking are very well known around the world but it is less known that he suffers from ALS/MND. Their assumption was that if people link the disease to the world famous professor the awareness to the disease will be significantly raised. Prof. Hawking, who is probably the most famous ALS/MND patient since Lou Gehrig, agreed with them and committed himself to the idea.
Following that meeting, IsrALS took upon itself to lead the production of this awareness video. They enlisted some of the best professionals in the advertisement community in Israel: Adler, Homski & vershavski ad. firm, the director Ranni Carmeli, the director of photography Emmanuel Kadosh , ( DOP of Holywood based films such as “Modigliani” and “The lost city”), and many others. It is worth mentioning that all the work was done voluntarily.
IsrALS contacted the UK MND association and asked for their cooperation. Ms. Donna Cresswell, their Director of Communications was more than helpful and became part of the team immediately. She went to Cambridge University to check the shooting site a couple of weeks before the Israeli team arrived, and also participated in the actual shooting.
All this effort created a unique and moving video clip. .
Nir Tsoran, IsrALS CEO, concludes: “The fact that a celebrity such as Prof. Hawking is staring in this new campaign is a major step in raising public and scientific awareness to the disease, and increases scientifically the chances of finding a cure”.
To help spread this message IsrALS is very happy to share the video for free with all ALS/MND associations around the world.
For more details please contact Mrs. Efrat Lieberthal at, elieberthal@prize4life.org

Written by Efrat Lieberthal

http://www.alsmndalliance.org/cgi-bi...?id=1186755301