When Richard Mott, of Camillus, in March 2000 was given a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, his daughter had a great deal of difficulty learning about the disease and the care her father would require.

Mott died six months later. Before he did, his daughter made him a promise.

"I made a promise to my dad that nobody else would have to go through what we did with this disease," Donna Mott-Lange said.

This week, Mott-Lange will conduct organizing meetings in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse to start up the region's first chapter of the national ALS Association.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease that claims some 5,600 lives each year in the United States. Its victims suffer from loss of various types of muscle control, leading to paralysis and death, usually two to four years after diagnosis.

There is no known cure.

Mott-Lange, of Auburn, said she knows of at least 15 people in Central New York who have the disease. The ALS clinic at University Hospital, the only such clinic in Upstate New York, has a running caseload of about 50 people.

Last year, the national ALS Web site - www.alsa.org - registered about 1,200 hits from Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

"I know from personal experience what they need, and it's a lot," Mott-Lange said of people who were seeking information about the disease.

The Syracuse organizing meeting for the Upstate Chapter of ALS Association will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the North Medical Center, 5100 W. Taft Road, Clay.

The group will start out as all volunteers, but will try to quickly raise enough money for an executive director and patient services coordinator, Mott-Lange said.

"It's a passion. It's something I believe in. And it's something I promised my father I'd do," she said.