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Mother prepares to tackle son's debilitating disease
Proudfoot fights ALS; Mother's paintings to be sold to benefit former Al's foundation
ALYCIA AMBROZIAK, The Gazette


Jan Proudfoot is well-known in the West Island as an artist - her watercolours and pen and inks of local scenes hang in many homes in the region.

But Proudfoot now wants to be known as a crusader.

Her aim is to further the battle against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, an ultimately fatal disease that her son, Tony, of Alouettes fame, was diagnosed with last May.

Jan Proudfoot will sell copies of her Pointe Claire scenes at Pointe Claire Plaza, at the corner of Highway 20 and St. John's Blvd., during store hours tomorrow and Saturday.

Proceeds from those sales will go to the Tony Proudfoot Fund for ALS Research.

"I started selling these particular copies because of Tony's illness," Proudfoot said, adding that her first sale with proceeds going to her son's fund took place at the Pointe Claire Curling Club.

Proudfoot said she always knew she had an artistic bent but didn't really do much with it until her five children were grown.

"I wanted to wait for them to grow up before I started painting," she said.

"And now those sketches can go to help Tony.

"There are so few people with ALS, that support for research has been sadly lacking," she said.

"The first I heard of it was when Lou Gehrig had it 40 years ago, but no one has been able to find a cure - or even a cause - in all that time.

"I hope and pray that someone will find a cure while Tony still has hope," she said.

Tony Proudfoot, 58, played professional football for 12 years with the Canadian Football League - nine of those as a defensive back with the Alouettes during the 1970s. He also worked as a football broadcaster on CJAD and was a physical education teacher for 30 years at Dawson College. Now, he has become a public face in the battle against ALS.

Despite difficulty with his speech, he continues to speak to many groups and takes part in fundraisers to benefit research into the disease.

An ALS fundraising walk last September - in which his mother took part - raised $16,000. The Tony Proudfoot Fund has raised almost $100,000, half of which goes to patient services and half to research.

These days, Tony Proudfoot is in the early stages of writing another book. His first book, First and Goal: The CFL and the Pursuit of Excellence, was published a couple of years ago.

"Right now I, along with the Alouettes, are working on organizing a corporate fundraiser against ALS that would take place in June," he said.

Proudfoot said he was moved by his mother's latest endeavour to raise money for his fund.

"My mother wants to do whatever she can to help," he said from his Pointe Claire home. "It makes her feel like she is doing something to help - and she is."

For more information or to donate to the Tony Proudfoot Fund at ALS-Quebec, go online at: sla-quebec.ca and click on the link to the Tony Proudfoot Fund. The telephone number at ALS-Quebec is 514-725-2653.




© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008