Come Walk With Us!

Dr Janice Robertson and her team of amazing scientists!

I cannot say enough about how wonderful Dr. Janice Robertson and her research colleagues are at the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases.

If you’ve been reading my blog for recently you will have heard that my brother suffers from ALS – Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

You may also know that this incredibly horrible disease eats away at your body until you can no longer use any of your muscles. Most ALS patients lose their battle within three to five years of diagnosis. For my brother Christopher, it has been two and a half years.

We all live with ALS when someone close to us has it. Christopher is the unfortunate carrier of the disease, but those of us who love him also live with the every day realities.

Last night I was lucky enough to be included in a special reception for the donors of the Jim Hunter family foundation for ALS. Jim Hunter is the founder of of NexGen Financial and a former CEO of Mackenzie Financial Corporation. Jim was diagnosed in 2009. Today he and his family are raising money for a cure. They have a goal of $5million and are more than halfway there.

Dad was able to help the Hunter family with their first Cycle for a Cure last year by helping solidify a location for the start/finish of the cycle. Last year was the inaugural ride and the second happens this year again, starting/finishing at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham. To find out more, to donate, or participate click HERE.

Back to last night – we met and heard from Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Catherine Whiteside from the University of Toronto (as the research team is affiliated with the University), Associate Director of Faculty of Medicine Advancement, Brian Bachand and Dr. Janice Robertson (she’s world renowned!). Heather Hunter and Jim “spoke” as well. Jim uses a special computer that speaks for him, as he has lost the use of his voice.

The fun actually began when we were broken up into groups and given tours of the lab. I had had the opportunity to meet all the researchers last November, but it was so much more amazing to see them “show and tell” some of the things they are working on, as well as show off some amazing new equipment they have. Each researcher has their special area of expertise but they are all working on finding a cure for ALS. They are amazing and diverse and so full of energy and hope! I completely admire the work they do and very much appreciate what they are doing.

Back to the equipment…One of my personal favourites was a microscope that can show live cells! It’s an incredible piece of equipment because they can not only watch tiny little motor neurons, but they can also manipulate them! What we were looking at was as 8 micro units small. Can you even understand how small that is? It’s WAY smaller than a millimetre! It’s amazing.

My point is, in the last decade there have been considerable findings in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. Jim Hunter believes that in the coming decade we will find a cure or at least find a way to slow the progression of ALS. I believe this also. It’s going to be incredible but they only way we’re going to be able to do this is to support our researchers.

The annual Walk for ALS in Toronto is occurring on Saturday May 31^st. Please feel free to join my family, friends, Griffey and I! Please also consider sponsoring myself or one of the people walking on our team. You reach my donation page by clicking here.

Thanks so much! See you on the 31^st?!   

An Interlude from my African Adventures for a more serious topic: ALS

My brother Christopher and I being silly...

In a couple of days I fly off for yet another mini – adventure – Cape Town. It’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world! One where two oceans meet, where you can climb a mountain, go paragliding, shark diving, wine tasting, see penguins and eat amazing food all in a day…ok, maybe not in one day but in a few days! And here I am thinking, I am too lucky. How is it that I get to do all this, and my brother is at home suffering from a horrible disease.

My brother Christopher suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. In short, the disease affects you in such as way that your muscles stop working, from your largest to your smallest.

Now I don’t want to speak out of turn, my brother may actually be having a really good day – one in which he was able to sleep all night, enjoy time with his friends and my puppy, have lots of energy and eat well. There is also the possibility that Christopher didn’t have a good day… But the reality is, he’s at home and I’m in Africa.

What made me think of this now?

Well – there’s this awesome little article in McLean’s onALS.

I found it on my Facebook page.

ALS Canada posted it and if you’re my FB friend, you’ve seen that I shared it as well.

Here’s the crazy thing about this disease.

They have no idea what causes it.

And I suppose you can figure out the corollary here, if they don’t know what causes it, then they CANNOT cure it.

It is a horrible thing to live with, and I don’t even have the disease.

Imagine your entire body breaking down right in front of your eyes and you can’t do anything about it.

Remember, your brain is not a muscle – so it’s not affected.

You know everything that is happening to you.

I’m telling you all this because  -

A.      It sucks.

B.    We need help to put an end to this illness. 

C.      I can only think positively about improving my brother’s life and the lives of the 3000 Canadians who currently live with ALS and the thousands others around the world.

Please take the five minutes out of your day it took me to read this short article in Mclean’s. CLICK ME

I would also love it you could share it with those you know. 

And finally, as a family, we 

Janice Robertson and her amazing team
(and me too)

participate in the ALS Canada walk in Toronto. If you would like to find out how to participate or donate, please let me know. ANYTHING helps. 

But just so you know, I’m thinking about doing something BIGGER to help put an end to ALS. I'm going to ask ALL of YOU to help me.

In the article you will hear from, this amazing woman, Janice Robertson –  She and her team (who I’ve also been lucky enough to meet) are making some great inroads in the research of ALS.  Also mentioned in the article is my brother’s doctor, Lorne Zinman.

Thanks for listening.

And perhaps I’ve even incited you to take some action yourself.

Til next time…