ALS Society Honours Vernon Resident

By Corey Fischer

Apr 5, 2019 | 9:46 AM

A Vernon resident has been acknowledged by the ALS Society of BC.

Murray Vatamaniuck was honoured with the group’s BC Exceptional Public Awareness Program Award.

The award recognizes exceptional programs that aimed to educate and increase public awareness of ALS during the previous 12 months. Public awareness activities may include liaisons with the media, co-coordinating public awareness displays and speaking to the public or other organizations about ALS.

The former conservation officer, who is living with ALS, has taken part in several campaigns and is an annual participant in the Vernon Walk to End ALS.

“Murray was featured in the ALS BC Giving Tuesday direct response campaign, provided quotes in the 2019 Bob Heinrich art calendar and supports the PGA of BC Golfathon for ALS at Spallumcheen Golf & Country Club,” says a news release

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“During my participation in the Vernon Walk, I was blown away with all the generous people who attended, and also with the amount of new friends I made,” says Vatamaniuck. “I have found going to the ALS Support Group meetings in Kelowna very helpful. When I was first diagnosed, I was attending for 3 years, until it became harder to get around. The meetings were very helpful and I got to see the differences and similarities that we all go through when someone is living with ALS.”

Vatamaniuck encourages other organizations to raise funds and awareness for ALS. He would like to challenge the ski industry to present a Murray with Golfathon golf professionals at Spallumcheen Golf & Country Club fundraising day such as a “BC Ski to End ALS.”

“Murray is a very grateful and joyous person,” says Wendy Toyer, Executive Director of the ALS Society of BC. “He inspires everyone who meets him.”

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, or motor neuron disease) is a disease that gradually paralyzes people because the brain is no longer able to communicate with the muscles of the body that we are typically able to move at will. Over time, as the muscles of the body break down, someone living with ALS will lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, swallow, and eventually breathe. There is no effective treatments for ALS and no cure, yet. Approximately 80 per cent of people with ALS die within two to five years of being diagnosed.

by Corey Fischer