"Giving back to the ALS community"
Readers of the Lincoln Journal Star have gained photographic insights of their city and beyond for 13 years through the vision of photojournalist William Lauer.
Born in Iowa in 1961, he moved to Lincoln in 1974 and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1979.His life journey has involved cross-country motorcycle trips, world travels and stints behind the taps of some of Lincoln’s most venerable bars and eating establishments.
A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications, William joined the Journal Star in 1997. The award-winning photographer has covered everything from social challenges at Whiteclay to Husker football; from national politics to local natural disasters. He is respected among his peers for his skill, work ethic and commitment to the highest standards of the profession.
Doctors diagnosed William in October 2009 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, an incurable, fatal neurodegenerative disease most commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS strikes 5,600 Americans each year, there is no known cause or cure. The ALS Association is the largest private generator of research funding for the disease. With help and guidance from friends, William has started the William G. Lauer Foundation for ALS and Charities to raise money and awareness for ALS research and to benefit the ALSA Keith-Worthington Chapter, which provides invaluable service to Nebraska’s ALS patients.
By making a tax-deductible donation to the William G. Lauer Foundation for ALS and Charities, you are helping ALS patients and funding research to find a cause and a cure for the disease.
Thank you.
The Foundation’s Mission Statement
The William G. Lauer Foundation gives back to the ALS community by resolving unmet needs of ALS patients so they can live at home, raising funds to support The ALS Association, and funding research to find the cause and a cure for ALS. The Foundation also advocates on behalf of ALS patients by increasing community education and awareness about this debilitating, fatal disease.
The Foundation’s Goals
Donations to the Foundation support ALS research and those living with ALS. Contributions are directed to:
• Direct support services such as home modification, communication technology and other needs to help patients continue living at home.
• The ALS Association-Keith Worthington Chapter of Omaha, providing the only ALS-specific clinic in Nebraska and support services for patients, including evaluation of equipment needs, an equipment loan closet, information about patient rights, assistance with government benefits and education about the disease.
The Foundation also raises awareness and educates the community about ALS.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.
As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look “thinner” as muscle tissue atrophies.
Although the cause of ALS is not completely understood, the recent years have brought a wealth of new scientific understanding regarding the physiology of this disease.
While there is not a cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS, there is one FDA approved drug, Riluzole, that modestly slows the progression of ALS as well as several other drugs in clinical trials that hold promise.
For more information: http://www.alsa.org/als/what.cfm