NeuroTalk Support Groups - A boost for ALS research at UMAfter the death of their father from ALS, two sons have

A boost for ALS research at UMAfter the death of their father from ALS, two sons have pledged $2 million for an endowed research chair at UM.
BY FRED TASKER
ftasker@MiamiHerald.com
http://www.miami.com/images/miami/mi...9541313920.jpg
RONNA GRADUS/MIAMI HERALD FILE
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: José G. Pérez, left, and his brother Alberto helped establish a $2 million permanent endowed chair for ALS research.When José Pérez died at 47 in 2001 of ALS -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often called Lou Gehrig's Disease -- his two sons, Alberto, 24 and José, 26, vowed to carry on the foundation their father had created to help fight the disease.

They succeeded. With the help of other fundraisers in an organization now called the ALS Recovery Fund, the two sons, now 29 and 31, have announced a commitment to a $2 million permanent endowed chair for ALS research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

''These are wonderful young men carrying on their father's tradition,'' said Walter G. Bradley, chairman of neurology at the UM Med School. He said he hopes to hire a world-renowned scientist to carry on ALS research he started at UM.

''It came from the inspiration of my dad,'' said Alberto Pérez. ``He was an amazing person, not just to my brother and me but to everyone he came in contact with.''

The elder Pérez, who lived nearly 10 years after his diagnosis, set out to fight the disease by establishing the University of Miami ALS Research Foundation.

ALS is a progressive nerve disorder that begins with weakness in the hands or feet, followed eventually by paralysis. It often renders patients unable to speak. The disease strikes about 5,000 Americans a year, 80 percent of whom die within five years. It is called Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankees first baseman who retired from baseball in 1939 contracted it. World famous cosmologist Stephen Hawking also has ALS.

When Pérez died, his sons carried on his work -- raising money through events and direct donations, often from companies that had worked with Neff Rental, an equipment rental company he co-founded.

Last year, the foundation merged with the ALS Recovery Foundation, another group raising funds to fight ALS, led by Miami-Dade residents Kevin Packman, Alan Silverman, Donna Singer, Alvin Lodich and others. That group already had raised more than $500,000 to help ALS patients get care.

The new merged group is called ALS Recovery Fund.

''We will continue raising money,'' Alberto Pérez said. ``We've committed our lives to fighting this until there's a breakthrough.''

Said Bradley: ``These are all wonderful people deeply committed to ending this miserable disease.''
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