Matt Mondoux didn’t know much about Lou Gehrig’s disease until his friend was diagnosed last year. Now, he wants everyone to know, and he wants to find a cure.
That’s why Mondoux is donning a 1939 Lou Gehrig replica uniform and walking roughly 400 miles in about 14 days from Grand Island to Yankee Stadium.
“Education’s first, money’s second,” he said about the priorities of his walk.
More commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS for short, is a fatal condition that effects the nerve cells in the brain, brain stem and spinal cord.
Mondoux began his journey at Veteran’s Park in Grand Island at 3 a.m. July 10. Although it was dark and in the early morning hours, Sen. Mark Grisanti and Town Supervisor Peter McMahon were on hand with Mondoux’s family and friends for a ceremonial send-off.
About three days and 95 miles later, he quietly passed through Dansville, Wayland and into Cohocton where he stopped by the Snyder residence to meet the mother of Sgt. Devin Snyder and pay his respects.
Mondoux, himself, is a combat veteran who served two tours — one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq — with the Army National Guard.
While in Cohocton, Mondoux stayed the night in the Cohocton Valley Inn. Little did he know its proprietor, Kim Eiffert, lost her father, Arthur W. Scott, to Lou Gehrig’s disease on May 24.
“I feel so blessed that [Mondoux] ended up here,” Eiffert said by phone Thursday. “It meant the world to us that we could help him out.”
With Mondoux on his journey is his father, Jim, and brother, Mike.
Mike has walked a number of miles with Matt, but has spent most of his time in a vehicle where he and their father are in constant communication with Matt and keeps track of the terrain ahead.
Mondoux said he isn’t an experienced walker, didn’t train for this excursion, and as a result, has been put to the test. By the time he stopped in Dansville, Mondoux had suffered foot bleeding and blisters and had already walked about 30 miles on either one or two crutches.
But that’s no excuse to give up.
“I know what your body can do with the human spirit,” he said. “Twelve days of pain, that’s all it is.”
Mondoux said he isn’t sure exactly what will transpire when he reaches Yankee Stadium, but he plans to get there in time for the home game against the Oakland A’s and walk in with the folks from Columbia University Medical Center.
Matt Mondoux didn’t know much about Lou Gehrig’s disease until his friend was diagnosed last year. Now, he wants everyone to know, and he wants to find a cure.
That’s why Mondoux is donning a 1939 Lou Gehrig replica uniform and walking roughly 400 miles in about 14 days from Grand Island to Yankee Stadium.
“Education’s first, money’s second,” he said about the priorities of his walk.
More commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS for short, is a fatal condition that effects the nerve cells in the brain, brain stem and spinal cord.
Mondoux began his journey at Veteran’s Park in Grand Island at 3 a.m. July 10. Although it was dark and in the early morning hours, Sen. Mark Grisanti and Town Supervisor Peter McMahon were on hand with Mondoux’s family and friends for a ceremonial send-off.
About three days and 95 miles later, he quietly passed through Dansville, Wayland and into Cohocton where he stopped by the Snyder residence to meet the mother of Sgt. Devin Snyder and pay his respects.
Mondoux, himself, is a combat veteran who served two tours — one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq — with the Army National Guard.
While in Cohocton, Mondoux stayed the night in the Cohocton Valley Inn. Little did he know its proprietor, Kim Eiffert, lost her father, Arthur W. Scott, to Lou Gehrig’s disease on May 24.
“I feel so blessed that [Mondoux] ended up here,” Eiffert said by phone Thursday. “It meant the world to us that we could help him out.”
With Mondoux on his journey is his father, Jim, and brother, Mike.
Mike has walked a number of miles with Matt, but has spent most of his time in a vehicle where he and their father are in constant communication with Matt and keeps track of the terrain ahead.
Mondoux said he isn’t an experienced walker, didn’t train for this excursion, and as a result, has been put to the test. By the time he stopped in Dansville, Mondoux had suffered foot bleeding and blisters and had already walked about 30 miles on either one or two crutches.
But that’s no excuse to give up.
“I know what your body can do with the human spirit,” he said. “Twelve days of pain, that’s all it is.”
Mondoux said he isn’t sure exactly what will transpire when he reaches Yankee Stadium, but he plans to get there in time for the home game against the Oakland A’s and walk in with the folks from Columbia University Medical Center.
Monetary donations for his walk are sent directly from the donor to Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Center at Columbia University Medical Center. No money is to be made out or given to him.
“The only way this works is if I get nothing,” he humbly said at Dansville Veteran’s Memorial on July 13.
Donations to Columbia can be made via his website, walking4lou.com.
When his journey is complete, Mondoux will go back to his daily life serving drinks at Seneca Niagara Casino full time, going to school at Medaille College full time, and being a full-time father and full-time husband.
