Oratorical Speech—Brian Duffy

My biggest challenge is finding a cure and raising awareness for ALS. Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a motor neuron disease. Motor neurons send signals from the brain to the muscles that tell the muscles what to do. But when someone has ALS the motor neurons die and the muscles can’t work. Soon after diagnosis the muscles stop working and you can’t move at all. But the cognitive function of the brain remains unaffected. This disease is not as big as cancer or AIDS but it is much worse. ALS is a killer and there is no cure and no effective treatment. The average person with ALS lives from 2-5 years before death comes.

Maybe you have heard of a man named Lou Gehrig. You might know him as the Iron Horse. One day he noticed a twitch in his shoulder so he went to the doctor and the doctor said, “You have a motor neuron disease. You are going to die.” It is the worst news you can give to anyone. So he went home and waited; did nothing but wait till death came around. The saddest thing is that they aren’t any further along with ALS than they were those seventy years ago. There are so many unanswered questions about ALS. Many people think that Lou Gehrig was so inspirational with this disease but he wasn’t. In my eyes all he did was sit and wait for his death.

I know a man who is fighting for his life and his name is Jon Blais. Jon Blais, a.k.a. the “Blazeman” is the most inspirational man in my life. He inspired me by finishing the Hawaii Ironman six months after being diagnosed with ALS. He also finished with one hour to spare. Blazeman is the voice of ALS. He was a big triathlete when he was in his twenties but then ALS came. Jon is 35 years old now. He is fighting for a cure and to raise awareness but he is fading fast. Within almost two years Jon can no longer walk, stand up, or move his arms by himself. He has to have help with everything he does. This disease is a challenge to Jon because he knows he will die soon and he knows that if he stops fighting now, death could come knocking on the door the next day.

ALS is a challenge to me in so many ways. I am raising funds for ALS and have raised over $3000. It is hard sometimes to manage school, homework, sports, and fundraising but if I had to choose one of these I would choose fighting right beside Jon in his War on ALS. Emotion is another challenge in fundraising. Every time I meet others with ALS I get very emotional and sometimes I cry. Each time I think about Jon I cry and sometimes I get mad. I get mad because I think to myself, “Why did Jon have to get this terrible disease?” But the biggest challenge of all is knowing the Blazeman is going to die. I can’t think about losing Jon because I always break down and it feels like he’s already gone.

My goal is to raise over $5000 on my own and there is no stopping me in. My mom and I are organizing a 5K run at SouthForsythHigh School and our goal is to have at least 500 people participating in the run. All the money raised on that day will go to the ALSCenter at EmoryUniversity for research to find a cure and to help people like Jon. The race is called the Blazeman Warrior 5K in his honor.

Thank you for your time today. I hope that you will help the Blazeman and me in this War on ALS…So Others May Live.