UAlbany Baseball Team Supports ALS and Breast Cancer Research with Fundraising Walks

Albany, N.Y. - The UAlbany baseball team supported ALS and Breast Cancer Research organizations by participating in two local walks held in the Capital Region last weekend.

The Great Danes gathered at Saratoga State Park for the 8th Annual Walk to Strike Out ALS, which raises funds and awareness for the ALS Regional Center at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a progressive, fatal, neuromuscular disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons. About 7,000 people in the United States are diagnosed each year and 30,000 Americans live with the disease at any given time. Most are given a prognosis of two to five years to live.

Saturday's walk raised money for ALS Regional Center, which provides medical and emotional care as well as physical, speech and occupational therapy and counseling for people with ALS and their families. The center also provides a free equipment loan closet with walkers, power wheelchairs and communication devices for people with ALS.

On Sunday, UAlbany baseball players joined other student-athletes representing the Great Dane football, men's basketball and cheerleading and dance squads in Washington Park to walk in the 2009 American Cancer Society Making Strides for Breast Cancer event. UAlbany president George Philip joined the student-athletes at the event.

Over 12,000 people participated in the walk, combining to raise $1,050,000 towards breast cancer research and awareness.


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information