Walkers taking steps to help ALS sufferers
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By Joe Bonikowski

Neighborhood Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

A 2-mile walk Saturday morning at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter will boost efforts to help local patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease.

The ALS Association Florida Chapter will host its Walk to D'Feet ALS, starting with registration at 9 a.m. at the plaza in front of the stadium.

"The walk will be on the perimeter of the stadium grounds," said Dileep Dadlani, the statewide coordinator for the fund-raiser. "For this walk we'll probably have 350 to 400 people.

"It's about a two-hour event. Shell's Seafood Restaurant will provide lunches for the walkers and since it's St. Patrick's Day we'll have a bagpiper."

Sponsors will be contributing for the individual walkers' efforts, which begin at 10 a.m. Each walker who raises at least $75 will qualify for a Walk to D'Feet ALS T-shirt. Other prizes are available for different amounts of money raised.

Event sponsors include Royal Caribbean; Booze Allen Hamilton; Permobil; UPS; the Florida Marlins; Southeastern Printing; Cheney Brothers; and Shell's Seafood Restaurants.

"We're 100 percent donor driven," Dadlani said. "There's no registration fee and 90 percent of every dollar raised helps those affected by Lou Gehrig's disease, ultimately research and patient service programs."

The disease, for which there is no cure, attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and the progressive degeneration of motor neurons leads to death within two to five years after diagnosis.

To register for the walk, call (888) 257-1717 or go on line to www.ALS-Florida.org.