blank'/> Broughton Sports Update: Alumnus: TeamChrisCombs.org

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Alumnus: TeamChrisCombs.org

Chris Combs is a 1993 Broughton Graduate and a member of the BHS Baseball family. Please take the time to read this open letter from Chris and his wife Gena.

Visit www.TeamChrisCombs.org and find ways you can help Strike Out ALS

TeamChrisCombs.org

A Message to Our Supporters
Chris was formally diagnosed with ALS May 2nd, 2016. Upon the devastating news of his diagnosis, in typical Chris fashion, he wanted to fight back against ALS and strike it out. He and his family realized that there was a critical need for more treatments for people battling ALS like himself.

After talking with his brother-in-law, Dr. David Fajgenbaum, Chris realized the importance of looking at FDA approved drugs that cross the blood brain barrier, with intention of repurposing them for ALS. Time is critical with ALS. By researching and repurposing FDA approved drugs, we can find the best drugs to try immediately, as opposed to waiting 5-15 years for new targeted therapeutics to be FDA approved.

We discovered Project ALS while researching non-profits to get involved with. Shortly after, we met with Valerie and Meredith Estess in NYC, and over brunch realized that this would be the beginning of a special partnership and friendship. Their motivation, knowledge of ALS, and passion to find a cure partnered exactly with what Chris and Gena want to do to help find more treatments for ALS and one day a cure.

We are excited to announce our first fundraising event, the Hope Gala to defeat ALS, to raise critical funds needed to fight back against ALS. Through Project ALS we will be funding specific research conducted by Emily Rhodes Lowry, a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University, who is using iPS and other stem cell models of human ALS in a new way to discover drugs of interest to patients. Working in the laboratory of longtime Project ALS collaborator, Hynek Wichterle, Dr. Lowry has devised a panel of “assays’—or mini representations of human ALS—to identify a new therapeutic pathway in the disease. This research, along with the work Project ALS is doing with academic and drug company experts to identify drugs that might hit that pathway, will help us choose the best drugs for Chris to try immediately and could provide new options for other ALS patients.

Thank you so much for your support in the fight against ALS!

Best,
Chris & Gena Combs

Please visit our site and find ways you can help Strike Out ALS
www.TeamChrisCombs.org

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