Students’ Friendship Leads to ALS Fundraiser

By David Robinson

 Adam Deacon, right, and his friends presented a check, a framed ultimate Frisbee tournament invitation and T-shirts with the tournament logo to UAMS’ Stacy Rudnicki, M.D., who directs the ALS program.

Feb. 7, 2011| A strong friendship among four 12th-grade students recently led to an $8,073 check presentation for ALS research at UAMS.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. The ALS clinical program at UAMS follows about 85 Arkansans with ALS under the care and direction of Stacy Rudnicki, M.D., and a team of speech, occupational, respiratory and other medical specialists.

When the three best friends of Adam Deacon learned last year that his mother, Leanne Deacon, has ALS, they wanted to show their support. They enthusiastically accepted Christian Biggs’ idea of an ultimate Frisbee tournament fundraiser that initially was to involve their church and friends.

But they began to think bigger.

“We felt like God was calling, that there’s so much more that we could do,” said friend Beau Daggett, who attends Little Rock Christian Academy with best friends Biggs, Deacon and Jayson Harris. “We told Adam, ‘Right now we might not be able to find a cure, but we’re going to help you and stick through this with you.’”

They visited businesses throughout Little Rock that were receptive to providing sponsorships and donations to support the 200-plus participant tournament: The Ultimate Fight Against ALS held Sept. 18. More than 500 people attended the event at the Fellowship Bible Church’s athletic fields.

The four presented Rudnicki the check, a framed tournament invitation and T-shirts with the tournament logo. They said they hope to make it an annual event.

Rudnicki thanked the four for their efforts and generosity, saying she was impressed that they tackled such a major project.

“Adults get overwhelmed with the details, and the students just dove in and got it done,” she said.

There is no known cure for ALS, but translational research and clinical trials conducted at UAMS help create new treatments and provide hope for ALS patients and their families.