As you may or may not know, I lost my older brother (John "Johnny" Fox) to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) at the end of 2014. I didn't speak much about his death or the disease at first because it was a very painful period for my family and me. I learned a ton about ALS, life, grief, and my brother's strong will to fight anything he was up against. In honor of his memory, I'm participating in The Walk to Defeat ALS for the 9th year.  In the first 8 years, our team raised over $34,000!! I want to continue the fight to help others who are currently in this battle.

If you don't know much about ALS I can give you a simple 3-sentence description here: ALS is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. There is no cure at the moment for this disease. The life expectancy of an ALS patient averages 2 to 5 years.

In the span of two years my brother went from working out routinely to not being able to brush his own teeth. The most horrific aspect of this disease to me (at least that I saw in my brother) was the fact his mental state was completely unchanged. His body was failing him and deteriorating by the minute but his mind was as sharp as ever. On my final visit with him (about a month before he lost his fight with ALS) he could tell me all the current stats of our favorite sports teams and details of all the foreign countries he's traveled while giving my wife and me advice on where to honeymoon. However, all of this was being relayed by slow, slurred speech as I spoon fed him a Sonic shake.

As I live over 1,000 miles away from my family, my parents and sisters could provide many more horrifying details. They were by his side daily at the long-term care facility where he spent his last 10 months of life. I will always wish I could've done more.

I'm looking forward to participating in this event for the 9th time in memory of my brother to raise awareness and necessary funding for support/research of ALS. Please join me! You can join our team (Johnny Walkers) to participate in the walk on Saturday, May 4, 2024 and/or sponsor my team by donating or being a virtual walker and walking from home!  The Walk to Defeat ALS is a short 1 or 2 mile walk.  Being able to do this in my brother's memory means the world to me.

Thank you!!