You are hereHow you can join the Brigance Brigade to fight ALS
How you can join the Brigance Brigade to fight ALS
Sometimes a story is bigger than the space a newspaper article allows, which is why I’m writing more here about former Dolphins captain O.J. Brigance and his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
ALS is an incurable and terminal disease. Motor neurons shut down, causing muscles to wither until the patient can no longer breathe. Half of all ALS patients die with three years. Only 20 percent reach five years.
Brigance is a devout Christian with faith he will be the first person to beat ALS. Despite his defiance, he is hoping his cachet as a former NFL player — a Super Bowl champ and director of player development for the Ravens — will help raise money for research.
He has formed the Brigance Brigade, has been working with the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins and is the honorary chair of the Fiesta 5K & Fun Run on May 3 in Baltimore. And you don’t have to be anywhere near the Patapsco River to get involved.
Good souls can click here to long onto the Fiesta 5K site and make a $20 siesta pledge (it’s a Cinco de Mayo theme) for sleeping in that day because, well, O.J. would want you to.
“The platform that I’ve been given can give tremendous exposure to ALS and an opportunity to do some good,” Brigance said. “When adversity strikes we often want to shrink back and go into our shell, and there’s a time to do that. But we also experience things so we have an opportunity to impact others.”
Brigance played with the Dolphins from 1996 through 1999 as a reserve linebacker, but his impact was made on special teams, in the locker room and in the community. He helped build homes in Little Haiti through Habitat for Humanity and staged food drives. He has won awards for his selflesseness from the CFL, NFL and NFL Players Association to name a few organizations.
And he took in a couple young knuckleheads named Larry Izzo and Zach Thomas.
“It was easy to bounce questions off him,” said Izzo, a special teams Pro Bowler who modeled himself after Brigance and became a folk hero for the champion Patriots. “We would sit in the locker room and just discuss life. I can’t emphasize the amount of respect everybody who has met O.J. has for him.”
Brigance already has established a presence in Baltimore. Izzo said he would contact Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who runs an ALS foundation in Boston, on Brigance’s behalf.
It would be encouraging to see the folks of South Florida step up, too.
When O J solves his als problem, he won't be the first to do such a thing. Many others have solved als and more are doing it all the time.
One such individual is Evelyn McDonald who solved her als problem back in the 1980's and wrote about it at the time.
Als develops when factors and patterns in a person's life come together to create it. So, by finding and changing what is going on with those factors and patterns one can solve the problem.
For more information on how this can be done see www.CreatingParadise.net, the work of Gabor Mate or the work of Dean Ornish.
OJ,
Your story is very encouraging for those of us also battling motor neuron disease. I was diagnosed with Progressive Muscular Atrophy in 2006. It ended my promising Military career but I refuse to let it end my life. I've been in denial for the most part, and this is the first time I've gotten online to relate to others who also suffer. Thank you for bringing much needed attention and effort to the ongoing search for a cure.
David Masters
Bellevue Nebraska
O.J.,i was also told i have als ,i have had it in my legs since 2000,and in my arms startinglast year,my son gave me a book called eric is wimming and his site is the same-ericiswinning.com,since my doctors told me the only thing i can do is take rilutek which gives you only 3 more months for 900.00/month i'm trying erics way ,which makes a lot of sence.im feeling pritty good and i pray the lord will lead me to stop the progress and than recover,i'll be praying for you and let me know what you think of the book. For his glory,george
Hi everyone. To anyone sick with ALS may the love of Jesus be apone you. My childrn die from lack of knowledge so get knowledge. ALS is a Mycoplasma Fermantans-based disease please watch Vidio Dr. Garth Nicholson is the leading researcher regarding Mycoplasma - based illnesses / diseaseand he presents nothing but facts! MicroeletricityGermkiller_email_MedstudtResulsOnALS_1-05-08.doc Video(33kb) cs users.doc (23 kb) also web sites: http://www.immed.org http://hospitalsantamonica.homestead.com http://educate-yourself.org/lte/OmomhasALS15jun04.shtmlUR