McNamara, ALS patient extends thanks for all who took Ice Bucket Challenge

Last Summer the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took the world by storm, raising over $100 million toward the research of ALS and more.

There was plenty of laughter, plenty of videos and even a few tragedies.

Often times those tragedies made many nod their heads and forget about the main reason the campaign was started.

Many have no idea why the Ice Bucket Challenge started in the first place.

Many have no clue what the terminal illness even is.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a motor neuron disease, where the person inflicted loses control of their muscular motor skills.

The inflicted loses the ability to voluntarily control movement.

Ultimately the cause of most deaths linked to the disease is respiratory failure, due to the fact the afflicted lose control of their breathing, via the diaphragm, which is a voluntary muscle.

Dale McNamara, a native of Malta came into the office of the PCN to express his thanks to the many participants of the Ice Bucket Challenge.

“I wanted to say thank you because this Ice Bucket Challenge just exploded,” McNamara told the PCN. “I wanted to thank the people that took the challenge, took the time and made the donations to ALS Foundation.”

McNamara understands that not everyone can make a donation to the foundation, but he was appreciative that the Challenge has enlightening many to what he lives with.

“The biggest thing that got me was prior to this Ice Bucket Challenge, a lot of people had seen me and were like what’s the matter, and I’m like it’s ALS. They weren’t even sure what that was,” McNamara said.

He went on to say that the ALS Foundation has been working with other neuromuscular diseases, with the money that the campaign has raised.

“Most of their findings and research that they do, directly contributes to Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and twenty other neuromuscular diseases that benefit from ALS research,” McNamara said.

So if you’ve donated to the ALS foundation, your money is helping many more people than you can ever imagine, not just ALS sufferers.

McNamara has been living with ALS since April of 2006 and was diagnosed three years later.

The fact he is still living today is a miracle in itself, due to the fact that ALS typically claims 70 percent of it’s victims within three to five years.

“I’m super fortunate that I’m on extended play,” Said McNamara, who lost the use of his legs at around the five year mark. “I’m really lucky.”

A mere ten percent of ALS sufferers make it past ten years.

“We call ourselves the thirty percenters, the ones that make it to five years,” McNamara said with a smile.

Describing what is was like living with ALS, McNamara shared an analogy, called the “Penny Analogy.

“When the muscles weaken it takes a little more effort to do things,” he said. “You can have 100 pennies every morning and normal activities might only take a penny a penny of your energy a day. With ALS that simple activity might cost you ten pennies a day.”

For McNamara to walk across his house, it takes about thirty pennies he said. Then he has to sit for a while.

“You have to expend so much energy to do things, that you don’t have enough pennies to make the whole day,” he said.

He also said that there are some good days, where he has more energy than on other days and some days worse than others.

“Some days walking is a little easier, and then there are days where going from the bedroom to the bathroom is like running a marathon,” he said, noting that he has ran marathons before.

Those circumstances would cause many people to want to shut down and possibly give up, but McNamara has altered his attitude.

“Attitude is everything,” he said. “You’ve got to maintain a can do attitude. It’s real easy to get under a dark cloud and get depressed about what’s going on.

He went on to say that the best thing you can do is to focus on what you can do and not on what you can’t.

“I’m stealing a marine phrase, but adapt, improvise and overcome,” McNamara said.

Long before he was diagnosed with ALS, McNamara was in the Air Force.

Long before that he was born to Richard and Lewellyn McNamara of Malta.

He is a 1978 graduate of Malta High School.

While finishing at MHS he had thoughts of joining the military.

“Other people from my class went into the Air Force like Scott Moran and Joe Mavencamp,” he said.

Deciding to wait a year before committing, after his graduation, Dave married the love of his life Tammy on December 29, 1979.

After working at the Pegasus Mine, for a year and a half and American Colloid during winter months, he and his bride both joined the military, though Tammy eventually became pregnant and was unable to continue to serve.

“My wife was an Air Force brat and we had decided that we would both join in 1980,” McNamara said.

The couple had three children while McNamara served, Tabitha born in 81, Christopher born in 84, and Patrick born in 87.

Both sons are currently serving in the Air Force.

He was deployed in Grenada, Panama and Desert Storm.

He was apart of the Oust of General Noriega in 1989, while in Panama.

In Grenada, McNamara saw some action as the US military was called in to rescue college students, which ultimately became popularized by Clint Eastwood’s “Heartbreak Ridge.”

In Desert Storm he was a part of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing.

He retired from the Air Force on November 1, 2000.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Air Force,” McNamara said.

He was also stationed in Portugal and The Netherlands.

A few days after his career in the military, McNamara worked for HP in Mason, Ohio after receiving a lucrative offer.

Mason would be the place that he, wife Tammy and their three children called home for two decades.

He was medically retired from work in July of 2010, due to his ALS.

Upon hearing of their father’s affliction, McNamara’s sons Christopher and Patrick were both on Humanitarian assignment to the Wright Patterson AF base in Dayton to stay closer to home in case of tragedy.

The couple moved to Zortman January of this year and plan to move to Malta after their house in Ohio is sold.

The couple has four grandchildren.

For more info about ALS, visit, alsa.org