By now, many of you have undoubtedly see the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. This has a special meaning in our household given that my wife Dr. Ileana Howard runs the ALS clinic for the Seattle Veterans Administration (VA) hospital. For those that may not be familiar with ALS, it’s a horrible illness with a 100% death rate and 2-5 year life expectancy after diagnosis. What makes this disease all the more terrible is that people’s mind are left intact while their bodies slowly deteriorate. For reasons unknown, ALS affects those in our military at a rate greater than the general public. It’s the job of the ALS rehab team at the Seattle VA to help maximize the quality of life for whatever time remains for our Veterans with ALS. In addition to helping Veterans with ALS professionally, Ileana also donates her time and energy outside of work to this cause. As a part of that effort, Ileana is running the Marine Corps marathon with the goal of raising funds and awareness for the Fisher House Foundation. This is a foundation that provides lodging to military/veteran families while their loves ones receive medical care and rehabilitation. They’ve assisted a number of Ileana’s patients and have 95%+ of all funds donated go directly to the families of veterans. If you’re considering donating to an ALS charity, I’d like to ask that you consider supporting our veterans and donating to the Fisher House at teamfisherhouse.org/site/TR/Event/General?px=1018536&pg=personal&fr_id=1220 Thanks!
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 06:23:01 +0000
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