Hope Through Caring Gala Draws $620,000 for ALS Research and Care
Friends and supporters of the Les Turner ALS Foundation gathered April 5 for the 37th Annual Hope Through Caring Gala, raising $620,000 to support research and care for people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
More than 400 people attended the gala, held at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago and streamed online. Also in attendance were 75 people living with ALS.
The gala was held just months after the Foundation signed a 10-year, $10 million gift agreement with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where it has supported world-class physicians and scientists striving for a cure for ALS since the late 1970s. Today, these dedicated physicians and scientists at the Les Turner ALS Center at Feinberg are pursuing novel investigations into the disease, offering life-enhancing treatments through its Lois Insolia ALS Clinic, and educating the next generation of specialists.
At the gala, Chicago attorney Katy McNeil and her late husband, Brian Davis, were awarded the 2025 Hope Through Caring Award. In her remarks, she praised Brian’s care under Senda Ajroud-Driss, MD, at the Lois Insolia ALS Clinic until his death in January and stressed the importance of medical research. Dr. Ajroud-Driss is the Les Turner ALS Foundation/Herbert C. Wenske Professor and professor of Neurology (Neuromuscular Disease) at Feinberg.
ALS is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease with an average survival rate of three years. There are an estimated 350,000 cases of ALS worldwide, and the symptoms and progression of the disease can vary greatly by person. The degeneration of neurons leads to muscle weakness and impaired speaking, swallowing, and breathing, eventually causing paralysis and death.
"This year’s gala was especially poignant,” said Laura Freveletti, chief executive officer for the Foundation. “Together, we held space for the lives we've lost, even as we looked ahead with hope.”
Almost 40 faculty members from Northwestern attended the gala, among them Richard B. Silverman, PhD, professor of Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Molecular Biosciences. Dr. Silverman in March published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrating the efficacy of NU-9, a new, experimental drug, in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease.
Like ALS, Alzheimer’s disease is caused by misfolded proteins that impair brain health. NU-9 targets the underlying mechanisms of these diseases rather than just treating their symptoms. The study's findings offer hope that NU-9 could be effective against the common mechanisms driving multiple neurodegenerative diseases.
“This drug is quite remarkable that it works in these multiple systems,” Dr. Silverman told Northwestern Now. “We need to test it in humans before we know how effective it is in treating Alzheimer’s disease. But how well upper motor neurons function in mice is similar to how well they function in humans. So, it seems to me, NU-9 really should work.”
After the gala, Freveletti expressed awe at the immeasurable impact of philanthropy upon medical research.
“We were reminded that donations to the Les Turner ALS Foundation help us search for a cure and that human connection—through support groups, shared moments, and this very community—is how people begin to heal,” she said. “Thank you for making both possible."
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For more information about supporting the Les Turner ALS Center, please contact Andrew Christopherson at andrew.christopherson@northwestern.edu or 312-503-3080.