BY LAURA WILLIAMS
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, September 28th, 2004

Andrew Knipe leaned back on a recliner in his Oceanside house, a small maroon pillow supporting his head. His hands curled slightly inward, and his slender legs twitched uncontrollably. It's hard for Knipe to make consonants, so his wife, Laura, helped interpret his words.

Knipe, a 37-year-old father of three, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. The fatal degenerative condition, which has robbed Knipe of control over most of his muscles, leads to total paralysis.

(PHOTO CAPTION: David Cone and his wife Lynn pose with Andy Knipe (center) at NY City Hall Park during the recent Ride for Life 2004.)

"I don't have a problem with self-pity," Knipe said. "But I do get angry. My energy goes outward."

The advertising exec - who has made commercials for HBO, Pepsi-Cola, FedEx, General Electric and his beloved New York Yankees - has used that energy to raise $500,000 to help find a cure for ALS.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association will thank Knipe with an award at the Wings Over Wall Street gala in Manhattan tomorrow, which is expected to raise $2 million. The association raises funds to fight 43 neuromuscular diseases, including ALS.

"I'd rather be winning an award for advertising than for ALS," Knipe said. "But not everyone is as lucky as me. Not everyone has an outstanding family and an outstanding job."

Knipe was diagnosed four years ago, after some minor symptoms emerged.

At first, his hands became numb, making his handwriting sloppy, and one of his biceps began to twitch. He thought it might be carpal tunnel syndrome, or perhaps a bug he caught on a business trip to Bolivia.

After a routine checkup, his doctor referred him to a clinic at Beth Israel Medical Center. It wasn't until he got there that he realized it was an ALS clinic.

"It was like the floor fell out from under me," he said. The life-long Yankees fan knew all about the disease that killed Lou Gehrig.

He got the diagnosis two weeks later.

"All I thought about was, how would I tell my wife?" he said. "No way this was going to happen to me. I was in denial."

And anyway, his life was too busy for ALS, he said. He was in the middle of a pitch for a new client, Monster.com. He and Laura were looking for a new house. And they were planning the christening of their infant son Joseph.

The disease progressed slowly for the first two years, and the Knipes thought they could live with its small inconveniences.

But during a trip to the Bahamas in April 2002, Knipe started to deteriorate rapidly, needing a wheelchair full time.

"Now I have to depend on health care workers and my family to help me with every function," he said.

Scientists don't know what causes ALS, and there is still no cure.

The disease kills the motor neurons that connect the brain and spinal cord to the body's muscles, and sufferers lose the ability to move and control their muscles. The mind, however, is usually not affected.

About 30,000 Americans have ALS, and 5,600 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the ALS Association. Half die between the third and fifth year after they're diagnosed.

But Knipe said he's not giving up without a fight.

Last year, he and his wife decided to have a baby. Leo is now 5 months old.

And he still works. His agency, BBDO Worldwide, hired a driver to bring him to his Manhattan office - complete with a special recliner - two days a week. Knipe has a special gizmo in the middle of his glasses that lets him use his computers. He controls the mouse with a tiny disk called a tracker.

"I have a lot more work to do," he said.