ALS volunteers take the lead by pitching in
By ZACHARY FRANZ, LAREDO MORNING TIMES
09/28/2007


Mary Klenke lived in San Antonio in 1984, the year her mother was diagnosed with Amyothropic Lateral Sclerosis, often called Lou Gehrig's disease.Klenke's mother lived far away in Kansas.

"I wanted to see what my mother was going through, so I thought I'd check with a support group," Klenke said. "Well, there were no support groups in San Antonio."

So Klenke started one. The group met for the first time six weeks after Klenke's mother died. Back then, it was a few families supporting one another. Today, that group has grown into the ALS Association South Texas Chapter, and they provide support and assistance to people afflicted with ALS in 93 counties, as well as funding cutting-edge research.

The organization was in Laredo Thursday to thank some of the donors who make their work possible with a luncheon at the Laredo Campus Extension of the University of Texas Health Science Center.

In 2006, the ALS Association South Texas Chapter raised $145,000 in Laredo alone at the "Walk to D'Feet ALS," a fundraising event held at TAMIU.

That money has helped the South Texas Chapter to hire a service-coordinator specifically for the Laredo area. Lupita Bautista recently started as the ALS Association liaison for Webb, Zapata, La Salle, Dimmit, Zavala, Frio and Maverick counties.

Bautista said that the ALS Association has identified five or six people with ALS in Laredo, but based on the city's population, there are likely two or three times that many.

The ALS Association also uses the money to support research. Currently, there is no cure - or even effective treatment - for ALS. The disease is progressive. It attacks and kills nerve pathways in the brain and spinal cord, so the brain can't control the body. Most ALS victims die within a few years.

"Every ALS family I have ever met encourages our organization to sponsor research," Klenke said. "After they go through this horrible disease, they don't want anyone else to have to go through it."

The South Texas Chapter uses some of its research money to fund the work of Dr. Peter Hart, a biochemist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

Hart spoke during the luncheon about his efforts to understand the molecular mutations that seem to cause ALS, and about how he got involved with the ALS Association.

It started, he said, when Klenke came to his office and asked him to attend an ALS Association meeting. Hart had already been studying ALS in the lab, but had little experience with victims of the disease.

"Mary is a very wise lady," he said. "I went to this meeting and met these individuals, and my work took on a new urgency. It changed me."

While people are afflicted with ALS, they need extensive physical assistance and emotional support, as they are basically trapped in a helpless body. The assistance and support are the other half of the ALS Association's mission.

The South Texas Chapter employs several professionals who specialize in working with victims of ALS, Klenke said.

The 2007 "Walk to D'Feet ALS" is scheduled for Laredo on Nov. 3. More information is available at www.alsasotx.org. To learn about ALS Association services, call Lupita Bautista at (956) 754-9120.

(Contact reporter Zachary Franz at 728-2582, or by e-mail at zfranz@lmtonline.com)

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