MDA Offers Art Exhibit, New Publications for ALS Awareness Month

TUCSON, Ariz., April 23, 2002 — The Muscular Dystrophy Association, the world leader among voluntary agencies in fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has several new efforts under way to raise awareness of the disease during May — ALS Awareness Month.

ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) destroys the nerve cells controlling muscles in healthy adults, ultimately causing complete paralysis while leaving mental function intact. Survival is typically two to five years after diagnosis, and no cure exists.

MDA's ALS Division will commemorate ALS Awareness Month with initiatives including:

• An art exhibit called Transcending Barriers to Creativity: Featuring Artists With ALS will run from May 2 to May 10 at the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Center at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. The exhibit of works from the nationally recognized MDA Art Collection will tour other MDA/ALS centers in the Northeast later this year.

• A new edition of "Facts About Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis," an introductory MDA pamphlet geared to people who've just received an ALS diagnosis, will be published in May. The booklet has been expanded and updated.

• "When a Loved One Has ALS: A Caregiver's Guide", an MDA book for family members and friends of people with ALS, is being released in its second edition, with an updated resource list.

• The MDA/ALS Newsletter this year became a monthly rather than a bimonthly publication. The newsletter provides news about ALS research, features on people coping effectively with the disease, caregiver information and more.

• A new print public service ad, featuring Lou Gehrig and the slogan "A Champion Never Gives Up," is being distributed to newspapers and magazines.

  MDA has been vitally active in ALS research and services for more than 50 years, and has invested more than $135 million in its ALS program to date, thanks to donations from the American public.

  MDA's ALS program includes grants to leading researchers worldwide, and medical care at some 230 hospital-affiliated MDA clinics and 25 MDA/ALS research and clinical centers across the country.

  The only drug currently licensed to treat ALS symptoms (Rilutek) came about as a result of MDA-sponsored research, and MDA researchers have identified genetic causes for some ALS cases. MDA-sponsored clinical trials of several promising drugs are currently under way.

  MDA assists people with ALS through help with purchase and repair of wheelchairs, support groups, expert-led seminars, an ALS Web site and ALS-specific chat rooms.

  "MDA will make a special effort in May to increase the nation's knowledge about ALS and the people who have it, the progress being made in the search for a treatment or cure, and the vast amount of work that still needs to be done to defeat this devastating disease," MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. "We remain as devoted to this cause now as we were 50 years ago when Eleanor Gehrig, Lou's widow, served MDA as a prominent volunteer leader."

  ALS is one of more than 40 neuromuscular diseases covered by MDA. The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.