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ALS awarness campaign features local resident

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Contributed by: Muscular Dystrophy Association on 4/29/2008

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has included James West of Englewood in its national campaign promoting awareness of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease), a devastating neuromuscular disease. May marks the 17th annual national ALS Awareness Month.

During May, West will be one of 31 people featured (one per day) in the MDA online series "ALS: Anyone's Life Story." The series highlights how people have learned to live with ALS, gaining new perspectives on life even as the disease progressively steals their ability to move, eat and breathe.

West, 42, learned he has ALS in October 2006. His photo and a brief biographical profile will appear Thursday, May 8, on MDA's ALS Division Web site(www.als-mda.org) and the Association's main site (www.mda.org).

Prior to ALS, West mountain biked in the summer, skied in the winter and loved playing with his wife and sons in the park, and gardening. Today his level of activity is dramatically less, but he says he wants very much to impart memories to his sons. "I want them to remember the things we did, even if it's as small a thing as building a spaceship with plastic blocks."

Average life expectancy of people with ALS is three to five years after diagnosis. ALS attacks the nerve cells that control muscles, ultimately resulting in paralysis of all voluntary muscles, including those used for breathing and swallowing.

The "Anyone's Life Story" series grew from the personal saga of fitness pioneer and entrepreneur Augie Nieto, who received a diagnosis of ALS at age 47 in 2005. A leader in the fitness equipment industry, Nieto underwent a dramatic shift in his life's priorities after his diagnosis, from striving for business success to searching for personal significance and fulfillment. He and his wife, Lynne, are co-chairs of MDA's ALS Division, and the driving force behind MDA's Augie's Quest research initiative.

MDA is the world leader in providing health care services for people with ALS, and in funding research that seeks treatments and a cure for the disease and some 40 other related diseases. The Association supports 225 hospital-affiliated MDA clinics across the country, of which 38 are designated MDA/ALS centers. The MDA/ALS Center at the University of Colorado in Aurora, and the MDA clinic at The Children's Hospital in Denver serve residents with ALS, muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases in the greater Denver area.

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