What Happened During the ALS Walk?

Ms. Soni

Some of the people CHAH walks in memory of.

CHAH’s ALS Walk this year unfortunately didn’t end up as an outdoor walk, due to the rain. The original plan was to walk to Yankee Stadium while chanting, holding up signs, and being escorted by the police. Desi, one of the patients with ALS, was going to be at the front of everyone, leading the walk.

The outdoor walk ended up not happening. Instead, the event was held in the school building, where the students lined the halls as Desi was wheeled down them, floor by floor. The entire time, everyone was chanting, cheering, and yelling. The students ran up each floor and waited until Desi came out of the elevator before bursting into cheers, holding up their signs.

At the fifth floor, students waited for several long minutes before being told to head into the gym and sit with their grade. There, the check was presented. Afterwards, students went to assigned classrooms and had pizza. 

Ms. Murphy organized the ALS Walk. She is the ELA teacher for 6th graders. Ms. Murphy has a personal connection to the fight against ALS. “I fight ALS because my mother passed away from it in 2005,” Ms. Murphy says. “I became affiliated with Ride For Life [because] they helped out my mother a lot emotionally and by giving her a wheelchair and a van to help her get around.” Ms. Murphy’s mother was named Mary, and CHAH walks in memory of her, as well as others, every year.

ALS, a.k.a amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig Disease, is a disease that affects your nervous system and leads to affected people losing motor functions (the ability to move) over time. It is fatal, and there is currently no cure for it. However, there are treatments that can slow it down, and there are many people developing a cure.

ALS was first really brought to national attention when Lou Gehrig (known as the “Iron Horse”), an incredibly famous baseball player, was diagnosed with it, leading to his retirement in early 1936 at age 36. Two years later, he died of ALS-related complications. Additionally, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in a special election related to his illness. His jersey number, 4, was the first to be professionally retired. Due to these events, some ALS fundraisers sell pins with the number 4 on them.

To learn more or help fight ALS, go to the National ALS Registry. ALS is a horrible disease, but scientists are making progress on a cure, and we can all help find and distribute it. If even just some of us pitch in and donate money to fight ALS, we can make a difference and save countless lives.