Right now, 30,000 people throughout the U.S. have ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, as it's commonly known as, and 8,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain (upper motor neurons) and spinal cord (lower motor neurons) and causes the muscles to waste away (atrophy). Motor neuron, or nerve cell, death makes it impossible for the brain to control muscles or signal them to move.
ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) develops therapeutics that stop ALS as soon as possible, by employing the leading drug discovery program for ALS, bridging a critical research gap. The Institute is the largest ALS research in center in the world and to date, ALS TDI has screened hundreds of drugs in its mission to discovery and develop effective therapeutics that slow and stop this disease.
As July's featured charity, we hope to promote awareness of ALS research and provide an opportunity for our customers to support ALS TDI. This 4th of July holiday, ALS TDI will team up with Major League Baseball for the
4♦ALS Awareness campaign to honor Lou Gehrig’s retirement from baseball 70 years ago. All home games across the U.S. will feature memorabilia and readings from Lou Gehrig's famous 7th inning speech. Proceeds will benefit ALS TDI, ALSA, MDA and Project ALS. You can learn more by visiting www.als.net/mlb.