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Dinner takes aim at combating ALS
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  Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS) is the focus of a fundraising drive thru dinner set for May 18 at Las Casuelas Mexican Restaurant in Manteca.
It’s an effort to raise funds toward a cure of the fatal disease that struck Mantecan Don Ferraro in May of last year. Organizers are asking for a donation of $10 per dinner, however, a donation of any greater amount would be greatly appreciated. ALS is among the most devastating diseases today with no known cure.  Manteca Police community service officer Shaun Feraro chose to stay home with her husband after he was diagnosed with the disease last May 15.  She has become an activist in the fight against the disease.  ALS has taken the place of polio that was so debilitating in the mid-20th century.  The funding of massive polio vaccinations around the globe was successfully chosen as the focus of the worldwide Rotary International.  Rotary and the World Health Association have all but eradicated Polio throughout the third world countries.  Named after the  baseball star of the same name, who was forced to retire in 1939,  ALS is a progressive neuromuscular disease that leads to total paralysis including the inability to speak, swallow or breathe.  There is no known cure or treatment to reverse its progression, however stem cell research is reportedly showing some hope for the future. The Ferraro family is asking for support of their “Walk to Defeat ALS Team Praying for Papa,” which honors Don Ferraro.  There are other victims in the general Manteca, Ripon and Lathrop areas who have been diagnosed with the disease with little help for a cure.  The dinner will help to fund additional research into the cause of the disease. ALS is usually fatal in two to five years following its diagnosis.  Every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS in the U.S. and every 90 minutes someone loses their battle against the disease. The dinner date is Wednesday, May 7, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the restaurant located at 1508 W. Yosemite Avenue.  It will include chicken fajitas, carnitas, rick and beans, tortillas along with chips and salsa.