During her 36 years as executive director of the Les Turner ALS Foundation, Wendy Abrams has presided over its growth from a small local fundraising group to one of the most distinguished independent ALS organizations in the world.
That’s why the longtime North Shore resident, who has announced her retirement this spring, was honored March 7 at the foundation’s 28th annual “Hope Through Caring” award dinner. The gala, emceed by author Jonathan Eig (“Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig”) took place at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago.
“It’s been all-consuming,” she said. “My life has been very much devoted to this organization. It’s been like a fourth child. I’ve watched it grow up and that’s been extremely rewarding.”
Abrams began working with other friends of Les Turner, the Glenview businessman who created the foundation a year before dying of ALS in 1978, as a volunteer at the annual Mammoth Music Mart fundraiser. In 1979, she was hired to oversee the Music Mart and all other activities of Les Turner ALS just as she was about to become a single parent to her three children.
“It was a job for me at first, more than a cause,” Abrams recalled, “but it’s became an incredible, inspiring career. It’s made a huge difference in my life.”
Abrams’ first order of business was partnering with Northwestern Medicine to create the nation’s first ALS research laboratory. The foundation and Northwestern each contributed $50,000 to establish the lab and hire one researcher. Today, that operation includes more than 30 scientists working at three research facilities at the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Next, Abrams turned her attention to patient services and practical assistance for people coping with the disease. Focus groups led to the establishment in 1986 of the Lois Insolia ALS Clinic at Northwestern, where patients are treated by a team of specialists.
Six years later, Abrams extended the outreach of Les Turner ALS by guiding its founding membership in the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations, a group that attracts roughly a thousand clinicians and researchers from 40 countries to its conferences.
Since Abrams became executive director, Les Turner ALS has raised $52 million dollars for research, patient care, education and advocacy. The the foundation now serves 90 percent of all people with ALS in the Chicago area.
“It’s a very exciting time,” Abrams said. “We’ve just named a center at Northwestern Medicine called the Les Turner ALS Research and Patient Center, which is an umbrella for the three research labs we’re supporting and the Lois Insolia Clinic. It’s a huge commitment and our hope is the center will grow and attract more researchers, clinical trials and collaboration. Collaborative research is where the answers will be found.
“It’s also a time of great momentum thanks to the ALS ice-bucket challenge last summer. That’s given us a real step up in awareness and in money, one we’re hoping will get us to the goal post faster.”
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