In November of 2015 Gary was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - a rare and progressive neurodegenerative disease. He and his family started noticing symptoms a year earlier when he started falling while traveling and developed foot- drop. When the diagnosis was finally made at the ALS clinic at MGH in Boston, his life and those of his beloved family changed forever. Currently, there is no cure, and the typical lifespan from diagnosis- is 3 to 5 years from onset of first symptoms. During his high school years in Stamford, CT, or later as a dual scholarship athlete at Northeastern University, Gary looked forward with anticipation to each "BIG GAME" - as a catcher for the Cape Cod League and during his college career. Before ALS, a competitive golf game on a challenging course became his enduring athletic passion. Today, Gary is now facing his biggest game against this disease of ALS - an unrelenting opponent!

ABOUT GARY

Gary is the first son of young parents born in the 1950's on Prince Edward Island in Canada. His temperament was defined by his childhood living on a small, rural Island rocked by the waves of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Days were spent working with his grandparents, uncles and cousins on their dairy and potato farms, formed his sense of belonging to the land of his Scottish ancestors. He and his wife Colleen moved from Florida to "The Island" six weeks after they were married. They spent their first summer renovating a one- hundred- year- old schoolhouse into a studio and home-set on a hill overlooking his grandparents farm and the red cliffs of Chelton Beach. Gary and his family have called many places home; Virginia, Connecticut and for the past twenty-one years- New Hampshire.

Never one to shy away from a career challenge, he created

G.W.Hogg & Company LLC, a business development and consulting company working in the fields of renewable energy, construction materials and logistics throughout New England and Canada. ALS has not slowed him down.

www.gwhogg.com

Get the T -shirt for $30

Contact: robertarrix@gmail.com

HOW CAN YOU HELP ?

Gary continues to work and greet each sunrise with optimism and purpose. The course of his disease is steady-with the first noticeable weakness coming from his feet and fingers and now he is having difficulty with his speech and swallowing. Gary has been participating for several years in a ground-breaking clinical trial at MGH -to slow the progression of his ALS, with a targeted gene therapy. He is the first person to receive this new antisense drug. It is showing positive results and today- there is hope for new drug therapies that will change the course of this fatal disease

This website was created to make it easier for anyone to donate to our ALS fund. The donations will help to defray the increasing out- of- pocket- medical and the home health -care expenses that will be a part of the ongoing progressive nature of ALS. We organized two successful fundraisers in 2018 and our first project was to renovate a bathroom to accommodate a shower wheelchair.

The first event was held at the Varsity Club at Northeastern University. The next "Night of Giving" was held in Contoocook, New Hampshire, in a barn-belonging to our friends, Beth and Rick. We enjoyed two evenings of merriment, generosity and loving support from friends, family and colleagues. We are planning more fundraising events in 2019.

With gratitude and love,

Gary, Colleen, Briana and Fiona