The Greater Tampa Bay Walk to Defeat ALS
The annual Walk to Defeat ALS is held to raise awareness and funding for research to discover treatments and a cure for ALS.
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
ALS causes these motor neurons to degenerate over time until they eventually die. When the motor neurons die, the brain can no longer initiate and control muscle movement. When voluntary muscle action is progressively affected, people may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.
Estimates suggest that ALS is responsible for as many as five in every 100,000 deaths in people 20 years or older. Although the average life expectancy of a person with ALS is about two to five years from the time of diagnosis, some people can live with the disease for more than five years.
Approximately 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS every year. Once being diagnosed the average life expectancy is 2-5 years. There is no cure for ALS yet.
ALS is difficult to diagnose, physicians run testing and rule out other diseases, this sometimes takes months, even years for a diagnosis.
$250,000.00 is the approximated out of pocket cost for someone diagnosed with ALS.
Every 90 minutes, someone is diagnosed with ALS, and someone passes away due to ALS.
90% of cases without any family history of having this disease.
Symptoms include progressive loss of muscle control. ALS gradually prohibits the ability to speak, swallow, walk, grasp objects, move and breathe.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2141485-0
