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Tartan Lion Fund

ALS not only affects the person it afflicts but also their family and their community. The goal of the Tartan Lion Fund is to generate funds to support research for the treatment of ALS and to raise awareness. By supporting this fund, you are making a statement by contributing to hope for every person, family and community around the world affected by ALS.

Lou Gehrig, one of America's most legendary major league baseball players, was diagnosed with ALS in 1939 at the age of 36, and the illness has since bourn his name in communities across North America. Now, almost 70 years later (and 140 years since it was first described), little still is understood about the cause of this disease and how to treat it.

As they work towards finding a cure, physicians, researchers and treatment teams have developed effective ways to delay the progression of disease and loss of autonomy with the help of physical, occupational, respiratory and speech therapists. Currently, there is only one drug available in North America that has been shown to slow the rate of progression of the disease, but its effects are modest. Immobility and death from progressive paralysis is still an inevitable reality. New drug therapies continue to emerge and are being studied in patients with ALS.

If research is able to continue in this way, progress is inevitable. Eventually, maybe soon, we will discover more effective treatment to halt progression. In time, we will be able to stop it. Someday, we may even find a way to reverse it.

Despite the devastating effects of ALS, the Tartan Lion Fund is about strength, positivity, and the knowledge that there is a cure and treatment in our future to help anybody and everybody affected with this disease. The real heroes are the people who are diagnosed with ALS but show a heart of a lion by doing everything they can within their limits. They are an example of strength for all of us.

ALS is a progressive, fatal, neuromuscular disease, which has no known cause, cure or drug therapy of consequence. This devastating disease slowly robs the individual of the ability to walk, talk, and ultimately, to breathe. Below are facts about ALS:

• Approximately 3,000 Canadians and 30,000 Americans currently live with ALS
• In at least 90% of cases, ALS strikes individuals with no family history of the disease
• Between 5-10% have a familial form of ALS, so 2 or more of their family members have it.
• ALS can strike anyone, regardless of age, sex or ethnic origin
• The usual age of onset is between 55 and 65, but some have been younger than 20
• ALS affects the whole family
• ALS is a costly disease - emotionally, physically, and financially.

For more information on ALS please visit www.als.ca or www.als.org.

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