Minakers Walk for Greg raises $7,000 for ALS

Greg with family

Family, friends and caregivers on the Minaker Farms Walk for Greg raised more than $7,000 for the annual ALS Walk held Saturday in Belleville Minaker Farms Walk for Greg! We walked on Saturday morning in Belleville for the 11th annual ALS Walk.
“We raised over $7000 toward the $14,000 total raised,” said Susanne Minaker Lyons, Greg’s sister. “We are very proud of our accomplishment and thankful for all the friends and family that joined us in the walk and sponsored us.”
The team has doubled in size since they participated in a walk last year in Kingston.
“His caregivers, family and friends are extremely involved in his care and making sure that he has visitors,” she said showing a photograph of Greg the first year after diagnosis. “He was still ablel to walk then. It was October of 2010. He is an amazing man and we are very passionate about this walk and trying to find a cause, treatment and cure.
Greg was an active dairy farmer and volunteer firefighter in South Marysburgh.
“ALS isn’t a “popular” disease but is a terrible thing to live through or watch someone go through. ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a paralyzing, life-ending condition with a prognosis of two to five years of life.
“My team, Minaker Farms Walk for Greg, consists of family and friends who have watched a seemingly heathly 44-year-old man slowly lose all aspects of his life. He cannot move on his own, he cannnot eat, he cannot speak. ALS is a disease that has no known cause,…no known treatment and certainly no known cure.
“Our team is walking so that ALS can support families who want to keep their member at home, but beds, wheelchairs, caregivers, medicine, medical supplies are needed. Greg would not be happy anywhere else but in his home where his incredible friends, colleagues and family can see him when we want.”