YNN.com

Syracuse / Oswego / Auburn

Change region

Saturday, March 20, 2010   54º F

08/03/2008 06:03 PM

Finding a Cure for Ataxia

By: Katie Morse

Finding a Cure for Ataxia
BRIDGEPORT, N.Y. -- Golfers spent the day raising money for a disease many people have never heard of.

It's called Ataxia, and it affects more than 200,000 people across the US.

"It's a disease that actually affects the cerebellum of the brain. And actually shrinks it. Affects all their motor skills, puts them in a wheelchair, and shortens their life," said Jim Ciecierski, the tournament organizer.

Jim's wife JoAnn and her brother Paul both have Ataxia.

"People don't realize that there's ALS, Lou Gehrig's everybody knows about it. But the ratio of people that have Ataxia is three to one over ALS," said Ciecierski.

The disease is similar to Lou Gehrig's disease. In fact, former major leaguer Bob Allison died from complications of Ataxia in 1995.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

His son Mark has carried on his dad's dream of finding a cure.


"Dad before he died, that's what he set out to do. He wanted to find a cause and a cure for this disease, said Mark Allison, from the Ataxia Research Center.

Today there's not only no cure for Ataxia, but there's also no treatment for people who have the disease. And the hope is that with future fundraising and events like these, that will change.

"It's a disease that people obviously suffer from, and their quality of life is obviously very much affected, and we're here today to raise money so we can find a treatment or a cure. I mean, either one would be great," said Allison.

"Every year we're done it I've gotten so many phone calls from people saying I've never heard anything about it, or they have it and they've never seen anything done about it," said Ciecierski.

The goal of the tournament is to raise $20,000 for Ataxia research.

The leading Ataxia research is being done at the University of Minnesota through the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center.

Allison was diagnosed with the disease in 1989 after retiring from his career with the Minnesota Twins.