Ride For Life: Northeast Ohio ALS walk raises $150,000

Parma, Ohio - John Kruszynski was a lifelong athlete - a high school quarterback and pitcher, and a racquetball player for 40 years.

Kruszynski was still golfing, bowling and playing racquetball twice a week one year ago, when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative neuromuscular disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It has no known cause or cure. Yesterday, as his son, John Jr., pushed him in a wheelchair, Kruszynski was overcome with emotion as more than 50 friends and family members joined him in the local ALS Association's Walk to D'Feet ALS at Cuyahoga Community College's western campus.

"It was a very nice turnout," said Kruszynski, 68, of Independence. "People that I didn't expect came from far away."

The third annual 2.5-mile walk attracted more than 1,200 people. About $150,000 is expected to be raised for the ALS Association's Northeast Ohio chapter.

While research on treatment and a cure continues nationally, much of the focus of the local association is to help those with ALS and their families. About 80 percent of the money raised will be used for services, including in-home respite care, medical equipment and resource information.

"Any time you called [the association], they were there to help you," said Joleen Emery of Elyria, whose husband, Bruce, 37, died of ALS in January. "A ramp, lift chair, support groups."

She and her daughters, Kelly, 12, and Erin, 8, were joined by about 40 others, who formed the Bru's Crew team.

One of the largest turnouts came from Hudson, in support of 46-year-old David Gagat. About 30 members of the high school baseball team walked with more than 100 teenagers from St. Mary Catholic Church. Gagat's son played baseball last year and he helped fund an indoor batting facility at the school, which is named in his honor.

Twenty-four family members and friends from as far away as Michigan joined John Hunter, 39, of Litchfield. Hunter learned he had ALS in April, after he noticed weakness in his right hand and his wife, Jonna, noticed muscle atrophy in his arms. He's undergoing treatment but walks slowly and has little strength in his right hand.

"I feel great and refuse to believe I'm sick," he said as he was beckoned for a group photo. "But I know what I've got ahead of me."