Teachers with ALS inspire students
BY JAMIE TALAN
Newsday Staff Writer
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
June 13, 2006
Raising more than $200,000 for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease, wasn't enough for Northport High School students. This summer, four students are heading into ALS laboratories across the country in an attempt to tackle the fatal motor neuron disease head-on.
"It's a fantastic development," said David Deutsch of West Sayville, a former science teacher at the high school who developed ALS two years ago, at 36. Another science teacher from the Northport district, 57-year-old Chris Pendergast, was diagnosed with ALS in 1993.
Earlier this year, Northport students organized a research fundraiser. That day, the Deutsch family organized a symposium, inviting top researchers to talk. At that session, some students realized there was something else they could do to move research forward.
"I have always had a passion for science," said Sarah Pattison, who had Pendergast as a teacher in elementary school. "He made such an impact on my life. This is a wonderful way to give something back to him."
Pattison will head off to the University of California Santa Barbara to work in nanotechnology and neuroscience.
Erin Stabile will head off to the ALS Therapy Development Foundation in Massachusetts; Rebecca Kerner to the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins; and Jessica May to the Neuroscience Research Laboratory at Columbia. May will be a junior in the fall, the others will be high school seniors.
Stabile said Deutsch had told his students to hold out for a cure. "The odds were stacked against him," she said. The students have never seen him waver from optimism, said Bryan Horan, a science adviser to the high school working with local scientists to mentor students. This is the first time the program is taking its students on the road, out of state and across the country.
"This is without precedent," said Pendergast, who lives in Miller Place. "David and I have always had a love of science and research. Now, those we have tutored are taking on real-life research. It could eventually lead to some understanding of this illness that could save lives someday. This is what teaching is all about."
At Columbia, May will be trying to understand why the disease kills motor neurons.
"The doors were wide open for us," Horan said. "Inspired by their teachers, the students want to get involved. ... They are connected to the cause."
