Many people in the Carlyle area came out to the 2nd annual Walk to end ALS on Saturday. The event featured a couple of bouncy castles for the children to enjoy before and after the walk as well as a balloon release and BBQ.

"ALS Saskatchewan has three walks here in the province, one in Saskatoon, one in Regina, and this one here in Carlyle," explained Debbie Fischer, one of the helpers at the event. "My husband has ALS, as well another family in the area lost a sister-in-law to ALS last year. It’s brought us together. We’ve gone to several walks in Regina as well as in Winnipeg, and we decided instead of us going out of the community, let's bring it to our community. The community has been wonderful at supporting us, and we want to thank everyone who helped support us in the last few years."

 ALS is also known as  Lou Gehrig’s disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. ALS has no known cure or effective treatment yet. It affects more men than it does women life expectancy after being diagnosed is 16 months to 18 months. Most patients with ALS will lose their voice and the ability to talk and eat.

" My husband still has full use of his voice as well as being able to eat, but his diaphragm is not working properly, so that’s where our issue is. He is now in a wheelchair and is in a position where he can no longer care for himself, so between the home care in our community, the nursing home, and our family, we meet his needs."

The event this year was a little down on numbers as many other events were taking place in the surrounding communities. Fischer notes that most of the support for the event comes before and after the walk through the businesses in the community. 

"We’ve been blessed this year to have the rapid relief team from Oxbow here to help us, they’ve supplied the volunteers to help for the day. Their help has taken some of the weight off us and has given us the freedom to do other things make the day a success."

40% of all the money raised on the walks goes to research, and the rest stays in the province to be used for equipment purchases, such as bathtub seats, lifts, and other equipment. A lot of the equipment that is needed is only needed for a short time and can cost quite a bit of money, so the ALS Society here in the province purchases the equipment from the donations and lends it to the families in need of it. The disease is so progressive that when the family doesn't need the equipment, it's returned to the ALS Society and they give it to the next person who needs it.

For more information on ALS and the ALS Society click here.