The real fight against ALS

There has been a lot of jocularity in recent days because of the national craze of challenging people to have ice cold water poured over their heads as a way of raising funds for the fight against ALS, the dreaded neurological disease.

If the craze moves forward this week as it did last week, it seems like nearly everyone in the country will have had the honor of being doused with frigid water. We hope so. It all raises more money and awareness for the cause.

But we hope the hilarity of the ice bucket treatment doesn’t detract from the sadness this disease has brought to communities, families and friends around the country.

On Friday, Pam Hillery, a longtime Havre civic leader, dumped water over my head. She had that well-known snicker on her face as she performed her task, perhaps thinking of those editorials she disagreed with over the years.

But she needed help in lifting the bucket from the Havre Daily News’ more-than-willing publisher Stacy Mantle because Pam has ALS.

Pam has reacted just how her friends would have expected to this debilitating disease — with grace, determination and a commitment to fight the disease all the way.

As you donate to see people get themselves doused in water, make sure you save some to pledge to Pam and her husband, Paul Tuss, who are taking part in the Walk Against ALS in Missoula in October.

And read Pam’s very honest blog about how she is coping with the disease.

Pam came from Virginia and spent time in Helena before coming to Havre.

She has been a part of the fabric of Havre life ever since. Before she contracted the disease, she talked to me about how she couldn’t imagine leaving Havre, the community with great people and such interesting community activities.

She been involved in numerous political, educational and civic activities since arriving in town.

She served on City Council, worked with the Havre Public School Foundation, is still employed at Montana State University-Northern and has been a supporter of so many community benefits.

The sad part is that Pam is not the exception. Havre has had a far-greater-than average number of people come down with ALS. Friends of Havre man Dan Stratton gathered Saturday at the Eagles Club to pay tribute to him and raise funds, and Brendon Brady’s friends are equally saddened that he has come down with ALS. Two other area people with ALS recently died.

The brave people with ALS who go about their daily lives with tremendous courage, quietly spreading the word about ALS year after year, are doing far more in the fight to find a cure than those of us who get water dumped over our heads.

This is also true of the many people who suffer from other diseases — cancer, heart disease and many others that affect lives all around the Hi-Line and the rest of the country.

They deserve our money, support and prayers.

But there is a special warm feeling you get by having water poured over your head to help raise awareness or having your wallet lightened to help find a cure.

And I am at least one American who wouldn’t mind seeing his tax bill raised a few cents to see that scientists get the money they need to keep looking for a cure.

It would be well worth it to see that families, friends and communities like Havre no longer having to go through the heartbreak we are now enduring.

(John Kelleher is managing editor of the Havre Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] or 406-265-6795, ext. 17.)