Almost 100 golfers turned out at Alta Mesa Golf Club (AMGC), this past June, to play in the shotgun start tournament fund-raising event, which garnered more than $14,000 for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) awareness.
The winning foursome, all AMGC members, each received a $50 gift card to the Italian Grotto Restaurant, in Scottsdale. The winning foursome included Steve Dallas, Mike Moody, Phil Crass and Pete Rust.
When touring professional golfer Aaron Watkins, an AMGC member, found out last February that his 30-year-old, lifelong boyhood friend, Kevin Swan, had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, he decided he had to do something to help.
“Even though ALS is incurable and always terminal,” Aaron lamented, “Kevin took the news well, and decided to spend whatever time he had by forming a nonprofit corporation, A Life Story Foundation, to raise awareness of ALS and other neuromuscular diseases.”
So, Aaron decided to coordinate the tournament to support his friend’s efforts.
Another friend, Jeff Coppaken, who also worked on the event, said additional funds were raised over that weekend, at a Scottsdale cocktail party, and through an online auction, in conjunction with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Local businesses also donated prizes and raffle tickets, as well as becoming hole sponsors.
Each year, some 30,000 Americans contract ALS, usually in their prime of life. There is no known cause, and only one medication has been available for the last 15 years, said Kevin in videos he has posted on the Internet. He believes that because not a large number of people get the disease, pharmaceutical companies have less incentive to research a cure, as profit would be nominal. “ALS doesn’t have a survivor,” Kevin stated. “I want to try to change that.” Monies raised by the tournament will go toward Kevin’s programs.
A professional TV announcer, Kevin has produced two very short videos (two to three minutes), which are informational and full of impact. As a part of his goal to raise awareness, his videos give a personal and understandable look at neuromuscular disease, and its effects on the lives of sufferers and their families. To view them on the Internet, type www.vimeo.com/41308140 for Shotgun! and www.vimeo.com/40457132 to see The New Face of ALS.
For more information, Kevin can be followed on Facebook at Swan’s No Limit Soldiers, www.Facebook.com/KevinSwanNLS, or at his foundation’s Web site, www.alifestory.org.