[BobbyB]

With a little help from his friends With a little help from his friends
Dan Wright, once an avid runner, is now dealing with the effects of Lou Gehrig's disease.
By Marquita Brown
777-3521

Sharing food and catching up at a Southwest Roanoke restaurant is a tradition Dan Wright and his friends have shared for years. But lately, it also serves a poignant reminder.

It's the support of his friends, Wright said, that helps him deal with his recent diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease, another name for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Up to 60 people -- Wright's friends and members of the Star City Striders running club -- will walk in honor of him during the ALS Association's Walk to D'Feet ALS on Sunday in Salem. They're calling themselves "The Wright Track" and may wear T-shirts with a picture of Wright crossing the finish line. Some club members are wearing red rubber bracelets that were sold as a fundraiser for the ALS Association. The group also had an initial goal of raising $1,000 for the association, but they have raised more than $6,000 through fundraisers and donations.

"It may not do anything for me," Wright, 59, said of the efforts, "but hopefully it may help a lot of people eventually."

ALS "is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that causes progressive dying off of the nerve cells that go to muscles to make them move, so the effect of the disease is to cause progressive, relentless muscle weakness and wasting," said Dr. Lawrence Phillips, professor of neurology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the state's only ALS research center and where Wright is getting treatment.

Despite the grim outlook of an ALS diagnosis -- it's currently incurable and fatal -- many ALS patients say they have a good quality of life if they have a good support system, Phillips said. That's where Wright's friends come in.

Before he was diagnosed, Wright had been president of the Striders and organized group runs for the club. He also ran in 19 marathons.

He first sensed something was wrong in 2000, when he noticed his race times were getting slower.

"Many of my running friends became used to hearing me complain about my race times," Wright wrote in a February 2006 article for the Star City Striders newsletter. "I knew that as you grow older you automatically become slower, but I was getting much too slow. I had finished most of my 10K races between 45 and 48 minutes, and started losing a minute or two per year. I began going to my doctor for checkups. I went through several tests and no problems were found."

"That was the toughest part about the whole thing, not knowing," Wright said recently.

By February 2006, Wright said, he still could jog a bit and walk. He would sometimes walk about 10 to 12 miles a week. Now, "I'm quite a bit weaker," he said. "Sometimes I can't even do a mile a week."

Aside from the workout, running gave Wright an opportunity to open up, said Rick Watkins, Wright's friend and a member of the Star City Striders.

"By nature, he's [Wright's] a quiet, shy, Yankee who doesn't easily share his feelings with anybody," Watkins said. But when he was running, Wright would talk more and would bond with other runners, Watkins said.

"To suddenly lose that ... you not only lose what you love, you also lose the people who go along with doing what you love."

It has been tough mentally adjusting to not being able to run anymore, Wright said. "At first I could only walk after dark, because I did not want people to see me not running," he wrote in the newsletter. "After a few months I've been used to being a walker (a slow one)."

Wright's friends walk with him so he won't have to do it alone. Watkins accompanies Wright at least three times a week. Wright also walks at the same time on those days, so friends know when to join him.

All of the support is "an offshoot of our love and respect for Dan," said Dr. Amy Rockhill, president of the Star City Striders. Wright, she said, also remains as active a club member as he can. He still attends meetings and has helped with the club's Women's Distance Race, which will be held Saturday.

"If anybody ever questions the importance of friends, these are the kinds of times when you know how really important that is," said Brenda McDaniel, Wright's partner.

The couple has looked into what they will need when Wright's disease worsens, such as a lift so he can navigate their three-story home and a portable shower head and hose, McDaniel said. The couple is also counting on the continued support of their friends.

"It hasn't been a pity party," Watkins said. "It's been a lot of fun. We're all aware of the situation, but it's been a lot of good times, quality times."

The ALS Association estimates that at any given time about 300,000 Americans, or 1 percent of the population, have the disease. Phillips estimates that he and other doctors at UVa diagnose two or three patients a week with ALS.

An ALS patient has a life expectancy of two to five years from the time of diagnosis, and the only available drug appears to prolong a patient's life by three months, Phillips said. UVa doctors are testing a purified form of pramipexole, a drug that is being used to treat Parkinson's. At UVa about 20 patients, including Wright, are participating in the trials. If successful, the drug will be tested on a larger scale.

In the meantime, Wright is on a mission to boost awareness of ALS. He plans to participate in the three-mile fundraiser walk on Sunday.

"I won't be able to walk much," he said, "but I'll be there."
http://www.roanoke.com/neighbors/wb/wb/xp-85746

[BobbyB]

Church banding together to help member




A Valley church is coming together to help one of its own.

The director of music for Friendship United Methodist Church in Athens suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease.

He desperately needs a new handicap van.

Lou gehrig's disease has left 51-year-old Dexter Greenhaw confined to a wheelchair.

He has severe muscle weakness and shortness of breath.

You won't hear him complain about it.

"Someone said we pray for you to be healed. I would rather you pray to give me strength," says Greenhaw.

Greenhaw doesn't let his disease get in the way of what he loves most, music.

Greenhaw spent 27 years as a band director and 17 years as director of music for Friendship United Methodist Church.

He still enjoys watching and listening to high school bands perform.

And even writes music for their half time shows.

"I've always been active. I'm not one to sit down and do nothing. I'm still active now but being provided a little mobility is wonderful," says Greenhaw.

Greenhaw's disease is progressing.

Soon he may not be able to get around at all.

Members of Friendship Methodist Church wanted to help.

They decided to raise money by having a chili supper, complete with cornbread and dessert.

"They are raising money to get me a van. So if it gets to a point I can't drive this one anymore, they can steer me in the van to go to the doctor and go see my children," says Greenhaw.

The handicap accessible van will cost around 17-thousand dollars.

If you would like to donate, you can call Friendship United Methodist Church in Athens.
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