Support for Melanie Frenkel's ALS fight

Hello friends, this is Valerie Sjovall (among many others) who are organizing this GoFundMe page on behalf of our dear friend and colleague Melanie Frenkel.

 

As some of you already know, Melanie was diagnosed in the Summer of 2021 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. This diagnosis came as a complete and utter shock to her, her family and friends; a diagnosis like this was unimaginable as there is no incidence of this in her family history.

 

ALS is a rare disease that affects ~6,000 people per year in the United States. There is currently no cure or effective treatment. Because of these unknowns and the scope of its impacts, ALS is an extremely expensive disease to treat. It is a disease that attacks and weakens the nervous system, affecting basic tasks like speaking, walking and eating. While the rate of progression varies from person-to-person, there is currently no cure. We are all devastated to hear that Melanie has been diagnosed with such a rare and debilitating disease. The disease progression has robbed Mel of much of her voluntary muscle control and as a result, she can no longer speak, requires a wheelchair to get around and utilizes a feeding tube to ensure she gets the proper nutrition. She gets tremendous, loving support / care from her family and friends to aid her with many of her daily tasks, but would benefit even more from additional support from all of us!

 

We know Melanie is a loving Mom to her daughter Rachel and the rock to her husband Evan, who also has battled his own cardiac health challenges. Melanie has been with Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) pharma (in BDS) for 15+ years and has made many, many lifelong friends along the way. She has been a dedicated and important team member at BI and has made a difference to the people and projects she has been associated with! She is part of the BI family and is well loved throughout the Medicine department.

 

Above all, we know Melanie for her positive personality, great sense of humor, love of sports, pets and gardening, curious and smart hands-on problem solving, and her willingness to help anyone in need. In her ALS fight, she is still showing her towering strengths, remaining positive, fighting for the future that she knows is too important. In fact, with her belief in science and knowledge of the Pharma industry, she chose to participate in an important ALS clinical trial and as such is now on the patient side as a participant in the ground-breaking Healy ALS platform trial.

 

So now, after taking a deep breath, we have a call to action and it’s our turn to give back to Melanie and do for her what she has done for many of us in the past. Therefore, we are now turning to GoFundMe to help her through this battle.

 

Since there is no cure for ALS, the only thing we can do is take steps to improve her quality of life. Your donation will help her family do precisely that. The money donated here will help to support Melanie during these difficult times, eg. mobility retrofit of her home via a wheelchair friendly front access ramp, automated mobility equipment for sitting and standing, transport vehicle costs, to name just a few.

 

Your monetary support, no matter how big or small, will help to ensure Melanie and family receive the tools, care and support they need as they face the biggest battle of their lives. This is the most physical, mental, emotional, and financially challenging time of their lives and we want to show Melanie and family, that her BI family and friends all over are here for them along the way.

 

 

To learn more about ALS, please visit: https://www.als.org/ 

To learn more about the Healy platform trial, please visit:https://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/als/research/platform-trial 

 

Anything you can do to help, including sharing her story, will be tremendously appreciated. We will be happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you so much for your consideration!