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May is ALS Month in Hays County

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX (May 10, 2019) – May is ALS Awareness Month, proclaimed May 7 by the Hays County Commissioners Court to call attention to this devastating disease which has no cure. ALS is formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and often called Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, ultimately affecting the person’s ability to speak, eat, and breathe. Based on U.S. population studies, a little over 5,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. It strikes with no regard for age, gender, or ethnicity.

Former County Commissioner Bill Burnett and his son Will Burnett accepted the proclamation on behalf of their wife and mother, Charelle Burnett, who passed away from ALS in 2011 at the age of 39 after being diagnosed only two years earlier. The Burnetts have been working with the ALS Association to bring awareness of and find treatment for the disease.

Hays County