BobbyB
04-30-2009, 10:22 PM
MDA honors retired general
Mikolajcik to be featured in campaign aiming to raise awareness of Lou Gehrig's disease
By Prentiss Findlay
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
http://media.charleston.net/img/photos/2009/04/27/Jefferson_Award.jpg
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik, seen in 2006, has tirelessly campaigned to raise awareness about ALS.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik of Charleston has been selected by the Muscular Dystrophy Association to be featured in its national campaign promoting awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, a devastating neuromuscular disease.
"My family and I are humbled by this recognition. We hope our efforts will raise awareness and help fight ALS," Mikolajcik said in a statement released by his family.
Mikolajcik, 62, was diagnosed in October 2003. His photo and profile will appear May 1 on MDA's ALS Web site, www.als-mda.org.
He will be one of 31 people featured, one per day throughout May, in the MDA online series "ALS: Anyone's Life Story." Individuals highlighted in the series talk about what it's like to have ALS and how they've learned to survive — and thrive — despite the deadly, paralyzing condition.
May marks the 18th annual National ALS Awareness Month, which gained official approval from Congress in 1992, at the urging of MDA.
Mikolajcik, a big fan of golf and University of Connecticut basketball, is active in ALS awareness and support activities. "I don't ask 'Why me?' " he said in a statement released by the Muscular Dystrophy Association. "Instead I ask, 'What can I do?' and 'What difference can I make?' "
The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun extending full health and disability benefits to all military veterans suffering from ALS, the degenerative nerve disease that claimed the life of baseball great Lou Gehrig. Mikolajcik, who retired in the Lowcountry after serving as commander of the Charleston Air Force Base, had pushed for the change. U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., had worked with Mikolajcik and introduced a bill in Congress to establish ALS as a service-related disease, but the VA's change means that bill is no longer needed, according to the ALS Association.
Studies have shown that veterans are nearly twice as likely to develop ALS as the general population, regardless of when or where the veterans served.
Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/apr/28/mda_honors_retired_general80248/
Mikolajcik to be featured in campaign aiming to raise awareness of Lou Gehrig's disease
By Prentiss Findlay
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
http://media.charleston.net/img/photos/2009/04/27/Jefferson_Award.jpg
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik, seen in 2006, has tirelessly campaigned to raise awareness about ALS.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik of Charleston has been selected by the Muscular Dystrophy Association to be featured in its national campaign promoting awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, a devastating neuromuscular disease.
"My family and I are humbled by this recognition. We hope our efforts will raise awareness and help fight ALS," Mikolajcik said in a statement released by his family.
Mikolajcik, 62, was diagnosed in October 2003. His photo and profile will appear May 1 on MDA's ALS Web site, www.als-mda.org.
He will be one of 31 people featured, one per day throughout May, in the MDA online series "ALS: Anyone's Life Story." Individuals highlighted in the series talk about what it's like to have ALS and how they've learned to survive — and thrive — despite the deadly, paralyzing condition.
May marks the 18th annual National ALS Awareness Month, which gained official approval from Congress in 1992, at the urging of MDA.
Mikolajcik, a big fan of golf and University of Connecticut basketball, is active in ALS awareness and support activities. "I don't ask 'Why me?' " he said in a statement released by the Muscular Dystrophy Association. "Instead I ask, 'What can I do?' and 'What difference can I make?' "
The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun extending full health and disability benefits to all military veterans suffering from ALS, the degenerative nerve disease that claimed the life of baseball great Lou Gehrig. Mikolajcik, who retired in the Lowcountry after serving as commander of the Charleston Air Force Base, had pushed for the change. U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., had worked with Mikolajcik and introduced a bill in Congress to establish ALS as a service-related disease, but the VA's change means that bill is no longer needed, according to the ALS Association.
Studies have shown that veterans are nearly twice as likely to develop ALS as the general population, regardless of when or where the veterans served.
Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/apr/28/mda_honors_retired_general80248/