Longtime Portland resident and famed adventurer Fred Noble has cheated death many times in more than 50 years of dangerous and extreme backcountry skiing, paragliding, mountain climbing and wind surfing. At age 74, Noble now finds himself in a fight for his life after being diagnosed in December with ALS, the fatal neurodegenerative muscular disease best known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Fred joined us today along with Lance Christian, the Executive Director of the ALS Association's Oregon and SW Washington Chapter to tell us about their upcoming event Ski to Defeat ALS.
 

Ski to Defeat ALS is a team and individual skiing and snowboarding event to be hosted at Mt. Hood Meadows on Saturday, April 14, 2012. Participants engage in competitions for most dollars raised and for most vertical feet skied or ridden. For more information about the event, visit SkitoDefeatALS.org.

About ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that slowly robs a person of the ability to walk, speak, swallow and, eventually, breathe. With no known cause or cure, a person can expect to live typically 2 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis. ALS has no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries –– and in only 10 percent of cases there is a family history of ALS. Today, there are approximately 30,000 people in the US living with ALS and 5,600
people in the US are diagnosed every year. At any given time, there are an estimated 500 families living with ALS in Oregon and Southwest Washington.