Kate Linder on the set of GOOD MORNING SAN DIEGO with anchors DAVID DAVIS & AIMEE FULLER.

Linder Stars for The ALS Association in Lou Gehrig’s Disease Public Awareness Campaign

Kate is playing a real life drama in “Kate’s Club,” a new public awareness campaign for The ALS Association (ALSA) to focus attention on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

For more information about ALSA, call 800-782-4747 or click on www.alsa.org


Kate Linder sits with KUSI's Aimee Fuller and shares her cause with "GOOD MORNING SAN DIEGO" (October 23, 2005)


Kate Linder of TV’s The Young and the Restless Stars for The ALS Association
in Lou Gehrig’s Disease Public Awareness Campaign
March 22, 2005

 
Kate Linder of TV’s
The Young and the Restless

As Esther Valentine on The Young and the Restless, Actress Kate Linder has played the confidante and housekeeper to Katherine Chancellor for the last 23 years.  Now, Linder is playing a real life drama in “Kate’s ClubTM,” a new public awareness campaign for The ALS Association (ALSA) to focus attention on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Linder’s new ALSA role is being played out against the backdrop of her family’s experience with ALS – a close family member has the devastating neuromuscular disease that strikes 5,600 people each year in America.

"On December 8, 2004, my 49 year old brother-in-law was diagnosed with ALS in Seattle, Washington,” according to Linder.  “Scott, his wife and two daughters, and our entire family are devastated by this neuromuscular disease. Through The ALS Association and Kate's Club, I will network with fellow actors, fans and volunteers to make everyone more aware of ALS and join the effort to strike it out.” 

Known to millions for her enduring role on the #1-rated daytime soap opera, Linder will spearhead the Kate’s Club campaign with an array of activities, including the filming of a public service announcement to promote ALSA’s signature event, the Walk To D’Feet ALS®.  In the 2005 season, ALSA’s chapters are staging 140 Walks in cities across the United States to raise funds for serving patients and families with ALS.  The Walks raised more than $9 million in 2004.

 
Kate Linder with ALSA Trustee Andrew Fleeson at The ALS Association's 2005 Leadership Conference.   
The Kate’s Club campaign will also reach out to other soap opera stars to join in the fight against ALS by reaching out in their own ways to raise public awareness about the disease, which took the life and the name of New York Yankee Superstar Lou Gehrig.
“Kate Linder’s tremendous popularity holds the potential to help ALSA reach millions about an “orphan” disease because it affects only 30,000 Americans at any given time,” said ALSA President & CEO Gary Leo.  “But when you or a loved one are touched by ALS, this terrible killer becomes a household word.”

The average life expectancy of a person with ALS is two to five years from the time of diagnosis.  ALS attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord, leading to paralysis and death.

“I hope that Kate’s Club will make ALS a household word so that The ALS Association can expand its services to patients and families with world-class research to find a cure and treatments,” Linder said.  (courtesy alsa.org)

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