During a difficult time, walk brings motivation

The people in the bright yellow T-shirts left no doubt about their purpose on Saturday.

They came to support Jenny Hoff, a Spokane woman who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease a year ago, and to remember Terry Hofer, a Chicago man who died of the disease in June.

“This is my team I’ve gathered,” Hoff said, gesturing at the people around her, all in “Jenny’s Jammers and Terry’s Troopers” shirts.

“When all is said and done, it’s about 60 walkers.”

Many of roughly 500 people at the annual ALS fundraising walk at Mirabeau Park had a similar personal connection, such as “Brian’s Brigade” and “Ray’s Rowdies.” They were hoping to raise public knowledge about the disease – formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – as well as money for research.

About 30,000 Americans have ALS, which slowly destroys the body’s nervous system and leaves patients paralyzed. People usually die from ALS three to five years after their diagnosis.

“In the beginning, my goal was a cure, of course,” said Hoff, a 49-year-old Spokane native. “Now a big, huge goal of mine has become ALS awareness. It could happen to anybody.”

The event’s goal was to raise $65,000, said Cathey Priddy, of Valley, Wash., an event organizer and a founder of the Spokane ALS Association. She became active on the issue after losing a sister-in-law, Cheran Clough, to the disease in 2005.

“It’s a terrible disease,” she said. “It slowly kills the motor nerves so a person slowly becomes paralyzed. Eventually, a person loses the ability to speak and eat and breathe, and the whole time their mind is fine.”

Priddy said there are about 100 ALS patients in the region, and people from Washington, Idaho and Montana attended Saturday’s event. She said about 36 teams were formed for the 3-mile walk along the Centennial Trail.

A lot of the people at the walk knew each other, exchanging hugs and greetings, and occasionally wiping away tears. The connections formed among people with ALS extend across the country – as with Hoff’s friendship with Hofer.

Hofer’s wife, Linda, came out from Chicago for the walk, and his parents made the trip from Chicago. Linda Hofer said that in addition to supporting Hoff, she came to Spokane to bring a gift – a retina-scanning computer that her husband had used in his final years, after he’d lost all mobility.

“He wanted that to go to Jenny, so we brought it out there,” she said. “It’s a piece of equipment everyone with ALS should have. It gave my kids back their father.”