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  • Understanding ALS
    • ALS Symptoms
    • Stages of ALS
    • What Causes ALS?
    • Lou Gehrig and the History of ALS
    • ALS Glossary
  • Who We Are
    • What We Do
    • Our Leadership
    • Financial Information
    • Our Partners
    • Careers
  • Research
    • How ALS Patients Can Help
    • Research Resources
    • Research News
    • ALS Association Research
  • Navigating ALS
    • Newly Diagnosed
      • What Do I Do Now?
      • How to Share Your Diagnosis
      • Second Opinions
      • Resources
      • Clinics and Centers
    • Living with ALS
      • For Patients
      • Therapies & Care
        • Nutrition & Feeding Tubes
        • How to Improve Mobility
        • Dealing with Breathing Issues
        • Dealing with Speech & Swallowing Issues
        • Types of Assistive Equipment & Technology
        • Clinics and Centers
      • Living Setting
      • Daily Living Activities
      • Leisure Activities
      • Accessible Vehicles
      • More in Depth Resources/Manuals
    • Coping with ALS
      • Dealing with Anxiety/Depression
      • Changes in Thinking & Emotional Lability
      • Support Groups
      • Resources
    • For Caregivers
      • Caregiver Program
      • Caregiver Resources
      • Practicing Self Care
      • From One Caregiver To Another
    • For Youth & Children
    • Virtual Support Groups & Workshops
      • Past Virtual Event Recordings
    • Resources
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      • Advance Directives
      • More in Depth Resources/Manuals
      • Register with ALS Texas
  • Get Involved
    • Walk to Defeat ALS®
      • Register for a Walk
    • Texas Chapter Events
      • Houston Marathon and Half Marathon
      • All In For ALS Poker Tournament
      • Sporting Clay Shoot
      • Under Ballou Skies Golf Classic and Party
      • ALS Fishing Classic
      • The Cowtown Affair
    • Calendar of Events
    • Fundraising Opportunities
    • Ways to Give
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One Day… A New Series to Celebrate Our ALS Texas Family

February 2, 2021 by Tonya Hitschmann Leave a Comment

A lot can happen in one day.

For many of us, our days feel like a blur of appointments and tasks to be completed. We often do only the bare minimum of what we need to stay afloat. Other days, things go our way, we are checking things off of our lists, we receive good news, we carry out or witness good deeds, and we feel like a superhero.

Sometimes we think, “I’ve got this!”, and feel like we are walking on sunshine. Then the clouds move in, and there are days we feel like we have never been more lost and without any sense of direction.

Simon Sinek teaches us to have an infinite mindset. “In an infinite game, there is no winning. There is only ahead and behind.” He challenges us to change our narratives and to stop labeling days as either good or bad. Instead, we should think of days as either ahead or behind. It reminds us that life is a journey of our days that some might even compare it to an amazing race. We tend to forget that each and every day is more than just that single time stamp. Each is made up of many different moments.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Daniel Kahneman, suggests that we experience approximately 20,000 moments every day. A moment is defined as a few seconds in which our brain records an experience. These moments are captured as positive, negative, or plain neutral. Rarely do we remember neutral moments, but instead we remember the positive and negative moments.

“Each day… is a gift; don’t send it back unopened.”- Unknown

This quote reminds us to slow down and stop focusing on the next thing and to instead enjoy what we have right in front of us, to making these moments count. That might mean working to make those moments memorable and we want to help that happen.

Beginning in February 2021, The ALS Association of Texas will launch a new five-minute interview series entitled, “One Day…” We will visit one moment of One Day in the life of members of our ALS Texas community and celebrate our ALS Texas family. Do you have a memorable moment to share?  We want to hear about it!

Send your One Day stories to Tonya. Maybe it’s something like a “Walk and Roll” that one of our ALS families told us about. A wife and her husband with ALS take an afternoon stroll together: hers is a walk, and he puts some miles on his power wheelchair! They get fresh air, sunshine, and they do it together. Now that is a moment to capture!

Together, we will savor the sweetness and celebrate victories big and small, friendships, creative approaches to living life to the fullest, family, and just plain good stuff. We will lock arms not only in our fight against ALS, but in creating more ahead days than behind, and in our determination and hope that there will One Day be a world without ALS.

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: als stories, Hope, pals

Introducing UNLOCK ALS

July 11, 2018 by Elise Bernard 2 Comments

The ALS Association Introduces New Mission Integration Concept at the Walk to Defeat ALS

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people across the country bring their determination, energy, and passion to the Walk to Defeat ALS to celebrate the progress made in the search for a cure with the ALS community. This year, we’ll honor our loved ones who are battling ALS and who have battled ALS through our new program UNLOCK ALS.

We’ll celebrate the real possibility of unlocking the mysteries of ALS. Anyone may hold the key to UNLOCK ALS – a fundraiser raising funds for the cure, a person with ALS participating in a clinical trial, a researcher developing treatments, even you.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Walk to Defeat ALS Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, ALS Texas, fundraising, pals, Unlock ALS, walk to defeat als, why we walk

New Salsa Business Provides Purpose After an ALS Diagnosis

April 16, 2018 by Elise Bernard 4 Comments

skips-salsa
Tami Potts has been canning her homemade salsa since her 20s.

Tami Potts has been canning her homemade salsa since her 20s. People have always told her that she should start her own salsa company, but between raising four kids and working, she never had much time to pursue that opportunity.

In the summer of 2016, Tami’s right hand started going numb. Her doctor told her it was time to consider another profession, as she spent many long days as a mail carrier. Tami’s daughter suggested finally starting up that salsa business.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Inspiring PALS, Stories Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, als stories, ALS Texas, Amarillo, Lou Gehrig's Disease, pals

The Walk to Defeat ALS: A Community Celebration of Hope

April 9, 2018 by Tanner Hockensmith Leave a Comment

What does it mean to be a part of the Walk to Defeat ALS? We’ve thought a lot about this question over the last few months.

Participation in this campaign can mean different things to different people, but overall, we think it can be summed up in these three words: Community, Celebration, Hope.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Walk to Defeat ALS Tagged With: als, ALS Texas, Celebration, Community, Hope, Lou Gehrig, Lou Gehrig's Disease, pals, walk to defeat als, why we walk

3rd Annual Shoot Out ALS Tournament Explodes with Success

April 3, 2018 by Elise Bernard Leave a Comment

harvey-builders-first-place
Harvey Builders win first place in the 2018 Shoot Out ALS tournament.

On Monday, March 26, more than 150 shooters gathered for the 3rd Annual Shoot Out ALS tournament at the Greater Houston Gun Club, raising $127,000 for the fight against ALS. Shooting enthusiasts participated in an afternoon shoot followed by cocktails and dinner, a live auction, and an awards reception.

At the tournament, we recognized ALS Hero JC Creath. Before ALS, JC and his wife Andrea were photographers, always on the go. While busy photographing weddings, families, pets, and babies, the symptoms of ALS began. JC began tripping and falling, and he struggled to catch his breath at times.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Sporting Clay Shoot Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, clay shoot, contest, fundraising, Greater Houston Gun Club, houston, Lou Gehrig's Disease, pals, shooting, skeet shoot, tournament

Another Winning Hand in the Fight Against ALS

February 27, 2018 by Elise Bernard Leave a Comment

On Saturday, January 20, more than 250 people attended the 14th Annual All in for ALS Poker Tournament. The event raised over $185,000 for the fight against ALS and to help fulfill our mission of finding treatments and a cure while serving, advocating for, and empowering people affected by ALS to live their lives to the fullest.

All in for ALS began in 2004 in honor of Stu Nichols. Stu and his son Andrew had a mission to visit every ballpark in the U.S. throughout Andrew’s childhood. Amidst their journey, Stu was diagnosed with ALS. After his diagnosis, he was still committed to visiting the remaining ballparks, but he also wanted to find a way to fund research for a cure for ALS. Andrew had been playing online poker at the time and was interested in playing in the World Series of Poker tournament. They decided to start a poker event that would benefit people living with ALS.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, ALS Texas, houston, Lou Gehrig's Disease, pals, poker

ALS Texas: 2017 By the Numbers

December 29, 2017 by Tanner Hockensmith Leave a Comment

At ALS Texas, we’re committed to providing quality services to people with ALS. From multidisciplinary clinics to support groups, financial assistance, loaning medical equipment free of charge, and research investment, we’re dedicated to helping patients live their lives to the fullest.

It’s only through the support of people like you that we’re able to do all this, and we want to thank you for helping make the past year a success. View the graphic below to see the impact of your donations in 2017.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, als clinics, ALS Texas, ALS treatment, clinics, Donate, Lou Gehrig's Disease, pals, patient services

Letter from the Executive Director: Year in Review

December 26, 2017 by Tanner Hockensmith 1 Comment

Executive Director Tanner Hockensmith and his family

Texas is big, really big. Our friends at Texas Humor stated that “if you drive long enough through Texas, you still might not get all the way through it.” As Texans, we pride ourselves on the sheer size of our great state.

However, its sprawling cities, growing suburbs, and vast rural areas pose a real challenge when we think about access. At ALS Texas, we believe that everyone living with ALS deserves to have access to top-notch clinical care, programs and resources that increase quality of life, clinical research studies, and an ALS community advocating for change.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: advocacy, als, ALS Advocacy, ALS awareness, als clinics, ALS Research, ALS Texas, ALS treatment, Donate, Lou Gehrig's Disease, national als advocacy day, pals, patient services, Public Policy

Support Plays Important Role in Living with ALS

December 22, 2017 by wpengine Leave a Comment

By Ben Stephens

Ben and his family

Like most people with ALS, I’d noticed some changes long before the diagnosis came. In August 2013, I began having difficulty buttoning my shirt. After seeing three different neurologists, receiving an incorrect diagnosis of multifocal motor neuropathy, and a series of tests like a spinal tap and MRI, I finally received a diagnosis of ALS in December 2014.

ALS has forced a lot of changes on my life. As an estate planning and probate attorney, I have a number of clients who rely on me. After my diagnosis, I hired an associate, which allows me to continue to work while living with the realities of ALS. I quit driving about two years ago, and I’ve learned to work remotely. I had to sell my house because of the stairs, and my family and I moved to a duplex. ALS has affected almost every area of my life.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Inspiring PALS, Stories Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, als clinics, als stories, ALS Texas, ALS treatment, clinics, diagnosis, Donate, Lou Gehrig's Disease, pals, patient services, support groups

A Letter from the Board President: Multidisciplinary Clinic Access Expands in Texas

December 21, 2017 by wpengine 1 Comment

When my father was diagnosed with ALS in November 2011, he and my mother began attending an ALS multidisciplinary clinic. He had been sick for three to four years and had seen doctor after doctor trying to get a diagnosis.  When he started attending clinic, the ease of a one-stop place for patients to see all the disciplines necessary to treat ALS gave my parents both relief and empowerment.

Aside from the relief of constant travel to numerous doctor’s appointments, multidisciplinary clinics help provide a better quality of life for a patient and caregiver.  From bonding with another patient or caregiver in the lobby over a shared experience to the ability to learn about new developments in treatments and research, the benefits are endless.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News, Stories Tagged With: als, ALS awareness, als clinics, ALS Texas, clinical trial, clinics, pals, patient services, Research

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