Strong support in return of ALS Walk

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on September 14, 2022.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Michael Webber speaks about his battle with ALS at the Walk Together for ALS on Saturday at Henderson Park. Webber was joined by his wife and son, as well as walk coordinator Shelley Tom, at left.

The 12th annual Lethbridge Walk Together for ALS took place under sunny skies at Henderson Park on Saturday.

The fundraising event is hosted by the ALS Society of Alberta and brought families together to support Albertans living with ALS and raising funds for the outstanding research that is being done in the province and around the world.

Michael Webber was this year’s walk ambassador and has been living with ALS since being diagnosed last October.

To this point, the disease has affected his legs and lower back and Webber is the eighth male in three generations of his family to be diagnosed with ALS.

“It’s mainly in my legs, so learning to get around without the use of your legs,” said Webber.

“It’s definitely a big change.”

Webber had leg pains leading up to the diagnosis and he slowly realized that it was ALS because it had run in his family.

“It wasn’t a major shock; I knew it was coming,” he said.

Webber wanted to remind the community that just because it’s not in your family, it doesn’t mean you can’t get it.

“A lot of people think it’s hereditary, when I think it’s only five to 10 per cent is hereditary,” he said.

“It can strike anybody at any time. I’m only 43 and I’ve got ALS now.”

The support has been second to none for Webber.

“My wife is a rock and then my in-laws live here in Lethbridge,” he said.

“So they’re really good about helping out taking care of our son when we have to go to doctor’s appointments and stuff. My parents live in Edmonton – they’re there if we need them for any kind of financial support and my friends are always around if I need them.”

It meant a lot for Webber and his family to be at the walk because he hadn’t dealt with anything like this before.

“Everybody is really supportive and really positive,” he said.

Webber’s wife, Allie, said their life has completely changed.

“He’s home now,” said Allie.

“He worked away for his job before up north with drilling rigs. So we’ve got a good solid year with him being home with our family. So we’ve really kind of made the best of that and spent time together and kind of are going to continue to do that as long as possible.”

She said they’ve been doing their bucket list stuff.

“So even encouraging people to not leave their bucket list because you never know,” she said. “Stuff like this can happen unexpectedly and take away time you thought you had. So live life. If you want to go do something, go do it.”

Shelley Tom is the Lethbridge Walk coordinator and lost her husband Gerard in 2017 to ALS, who was the ambassador the year before he passed, and she made a promise to him to carry on with the Walk and raise funds for ALS.

“We have a beautiful society, the ALS Society of Alberta, they’re an incredible group of people that just do a top-notch job,” said Tom. “There’s probably not enough words actually to explain that group of people. They help with equipment, social work, everything that you can imagine that you need help with ALS.”

Tom said “awesome,” in describing the first walk back since COVID.

“We had virtual walks for the last two years and now as you can see, we’ve had just a great turnout. We probably have over 100 … which has been fabulous.”