Tuesday, February 8, 2005
By EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITER
Bergen Record

RIDGEWOOD - Jack Elwood promised to keep a dry eye, but emotions got
the better of the physical education and health teacher as he
accepted a $56,000 check from students and his fellow teachers to
make his home handicapped-accessible.

"The money that has been raised is a tremendous gift to us," said
Elwood, 54, who was diagnosed with the debilitating disease ALS two
years ago.

The check was presented to Elwood at an after-school assembly Monday
at Ridgewood High School. Elwood has taught at the school on East
Ridgewood Avenue for 32 years.

Teachers and students organized two walk/runs in the village to raise
money for a fund in Elwood's name.

Tears welled up in Elwood's eyes and he choked on his words as he
thanked about 100 teachers, administrators, and students at the
assembly for their support and attention.

"It gives me an awful lot of strength to continue," Elwood told the
crowd.

Elwood was diagnosed in 2003 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -
sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease - but it has not curtailed his
teaching career or his job as assistant manager at Graydon Pool,
where he has been working for 24 years.

The disease attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Elwood
has lost motor use of many of his fingers. He faces more loss of
muscle control and will eventually be confined to a motorized
wheelchair.

"There has been a little bit more of the progression," Elwood said of
the disease. "It's affecting my legs a little bit now. It affects my
breathing a little bit. Other than that I'm still doing well. I'm
still teaching and working at Graydon for one more season at least."

Elwood said the money will be put to good use as needed.

"We're going to make the house handicapped-accessible, and we have a
crew of neighbors in construction to help," Elwood said.

He plans to make the bathroom accessible and add a ramp to his
Ridgewood home. The rest of the funds will be put in an account for
future ALS expenses.

Ali Stroker, 17, is president of the student body at the high school.
Stroker, wheelchair-bound since birth, was at the forefront of the
three-mile walk/runs through the village.

"It's an understanding that every day when you get up in the morning,
there's going to be a challenge no matter what," Stroker said. "I
don't have ALS, but I've been in a chair all my life. The one thing
to help you get through this is courage. With everybody behind him, I
think he can do it. When someone is going through something
difficult, there is nothing better than coming out to help them."

Kelly Reilly, 17, is both a student of Elwood's and co-worker at
Graydon Pool.

"He pushes you and is so supportive in anything you do," Reilly
said. "He wants to help. He's very spiritual in an amazing way. When
he asks you how your day is going, he really means it."

According to the ALS Association Web site, more than 5,600 people in
the United States are diagnosed with ALS each year. Famous names
associated with the disease are theoretical physicist Stephen
Hawking, and Hall of Fame baseball players Lou Gehrig and
Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who both died from ALS complications. It was
Brandeis University Professor Morrie Schwartz whose life with ALS was
chronicled in the book "Tuesdays with Morrie."

Since Elwood's diagnosis, it is the teachers, students, sports
organizations, and workers at Graydon Pool on Linwood and North Maple
avenues who have been at the forefront of the fund-raisers.
Organizers estimate that the fund has grown to more than $70,000, but
the need is continuous to defray costs for the family.

Elwood was experiencing unexplained muscle twitches before his
diagnosis in 2003. Since then, he has been encouraged by his doctors
to participate in several studies to monitor the disease.

Elwood takes medication for his ALS and is not in a wheelchair. He
participates in an ALS support group and an experimental program at
the Lou Gehrig Institute in Manhattan. He participated last year in a
motorized wheelchair ride from Manhattan to Montauk with ALS patients.

Elwood said the outpouring of support is overwhelming and that living
in Ridgewood is itself a blessing.

"It's humbling to say the least," Elwood said. "One of the reasons
I've done so well with this is that I've got all this support,
emotionally and spiritually. It lifts you up."