In the fall of 2000, Toni Diamond, a 20-year flight attendant with United Airlines was on a stopover in Japan, walking with her husband, Warren Schiffer, when she lost the ability to control her left foot. The brief but frightening problem went away, only to return a few months later. It wasn't long after that Diamond learned she had ALS.

During the course of her diagnosis and quest for more information, she came to Johns Hopkins, meeting with neurologist Jeffrey Rothstein who also directs its Center for ALS Research. And it was then that a relationship began.

Because she quickly decided "victim" wasn't in her vocabulary -- "it's never been in Toni's nature to take things lying down," her husband says -- she's became a champion for research into the little-known disease. When Diamond's health began to deteriorate, she realized that ALS didn't leave her much time and tapped into the existing fund raising expertise of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). With the help of her husband, his brother, Larry Schiffer, and her husband's friend Scott Horak, planning began for a massive benefit.

MDA officials in New York City had no problem with Diamond's wish to direct whatever she raised to The Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, as well as to the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Center at Columbia University where she'd been diagnosed.

About the same time Diamond found she had ALS, late in 2000, Michael Beier, director of equity trading at Credit Suisse First Boston and husband and father of two young children got the same wrenching diagnosis. Like Diamond, he became empowered by the disease to raise awareness and raise funds for research. But unlike her, his ability to speak, even now, is largely intact. "I have what many of my ALS friends don't; I still have a voice. I can speak and represent those who don't."

One thing led to another and, with the Schiffer brothers and Horak, Beier became a co-chair of Diamond's fund raising event. Called "Wings of Hope," the benefit involved a cocktail reception, entertainment and live auctions and took place November 8, 2001 in New York City. "We'd originally thought we'd raise $100,000 and have a few hundred people," says Beier. But more than 800 attended, contributing net proceeds of more than $650,000. That amount was split between the Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins and the Eleanor & Lou Gehrig

MDA/ALS Center at Columbia University.

At the event, Jeffrey Rothstein, Director of the Center for ALS Research was named the first recipient of the Diamond Award for his commitment to curing the disease.

Now, a year later, a second "Wings" will take place, on October 3, 2002. Renamed "Wings Over Wall Street," this version, at the Marriott's flagship hotel, the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, will also have an elegant cocktail reception, entertainment and auctions. Both Toni Diamond, who can communicate through slight eye movements, and her husband still follow and contribute to the event's progress.

"If we can get people to stand up and fight, to contribute," says Beier, who chairs this year's benefit, "then our words won't have been wasted."

THE CENTER FOR ALS RESEARCH

The Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins is a collaborative effort by some of the best ALS and non-ALS scientists to aggressively and rapidly develop new treatments and find a cure for ALS, also know as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's the only institution of its kind dedicated solely to the disease. Research conducted by the Center is meant to translate from bench to bedside in a expedited time frame. Center scientists from institutions around the world have made some of the most important discoveries in ALS, leading to advances in understanding and treatment of the disease. The nature of ALS shapes the Center's aggressive, results-oriented scientific approach.

For more information

* For more information on this year's Wings over Wall Street, check this web site: http://www.wingsoverwallstreet.org

* To learn more about the Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, including the latest information on ALS research and treatment, log on to www.alscenter.org

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