UNC student speaks out for ALS awareness
WASHINGTON - UNC nursing major Amanda Watson had two reasons for speaking Lou Gehrig's disease to over 350 people standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial this week.
Both her grandfather and great-grandfather died from the disease, also known as ALS.
Watson, a 19-year-old Raleigh native is the reigning Miss National Sweetheart 2006 and her platform is ALS. She is taking part in The ALS Association's ninth annual National ALS Advocacy Day and Public Policy Conference, which runs through Friday.
Watson chose the platform of raising awareness about the disease when she competed for the title last July. She volunteers with the ALS Association's the Jim "Catfish" Hunter Chapter, attending two walks across the state so far this year to spread the word.
"I'm trying to bring an awareness about ALS because it blows my mind how many people do not know what the disease is, how it affects the body or even what the letters ALS stand for," Watson said.
Chapter Executive Director Megan Gardner said the group is lucky to have Watson as a speaker.
"She is a very motivated young woman and delivered a very moving speech," Gardner said.
Watson sung "The Prayer" with Taylor John, the son of former Major League Baseball pitcher Tommy John, at a candlelight vigil Monday night. She was standing in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial and next to Kate Linder from "The Young and the Restless," and former Minnesota Twins baseball player Kent Hrbek, who also spoke at the event.
"It gives me a great sense of pride, not in myself, but more in the fact that even though I wasn't able to know my grandfather, who passed away one year before I was born, that he would have been extremely proud of me and my goal to put an end to this terrible disease," she said.
Watson's message resonated at the pageant held in Nashville, Tenn.
"The judges asked me a lot of questions regarding my involvement with The ALS Association, and I was really able to pour my heart out," she said. "It was a great avenue for me to get to know the judges and for them to get to know me."
