Lou Gehrig ’s disease (ALS) is a terrible, terrible disease. The recent national effort to draw awareness and funding is to be lauded.
The ALS Association, the organization behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, supports embryonic stem cell research. While the Catholic Church supports stem cell research, it does not condone stem cell research which frequently involves embryos harvested from the death of an aborted fetus. For me, and likely many others, this has presented a difficult moral dilemma.
My company and I have made a generous donation to the John Paul II Medical Research Institute instead. This institute conducts medical research for therapies and cures for a variety of diseases, including ALS, “with an emphasis on medical bio-ethics that is consistent with the dignity of human life”. Others wishing to respond to the Challenge in this manner may learn more about the John Paul II Medical Research Institute by visiting the research foundation’s website at www.jp2mri.org.
May God Bless and comfort those afflicted with this horrible disease. May He also provide strength and support to those who so diligently seek its cure.
Ray “Buz” Wolfe, Jr.
Broker/Owner
Wolfe & Company Realtors