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Bannon family, friends ride for ALS cure
YOUNGSTOWN
Brother and sister Breen O. Bannon and Lisa Bannon Steinmetz, leaders and founders of Crush ALS/Team Bannon, are preparing for their sixth annual 270-mile Tri-State Trek, the bike ride to end ALS.
They ride in memory of their brother, Chuck Bannon, who died in 2009 of Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis, often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” and to raise money for research to find a cure for the fatal disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
The Bannons — Breen of Youngstown and Lisa, who grew up here but lives in Glen Ridge, N.J. — and family members and friends who make up Crush ALS/Team Bannon, will make the three-day Tri-State Trek from Boston College to Greenwich, Conn., on June 27, 28 and 29.
After the death of their brother, the Bannon family vowed to help find a cure for ALS by raising money for research.
“Five years later, we still haven’t found a cure, but we really think we are closer,” Breen said.
Here’s why: ALS-TDI, the Boston-based research lab that sponsors the Tri-State Trek, is conducting Phase 2 clinical trials on the drug Gilenya. There is evidence this drug slows the progression of ALS in some patients. TDI expects the drug to go into the next phase, 2b, later this year, they said.
Also, thanks to the money raised from the Trek and other sources, TDI recently opened a new stem-cell lab that will be used to categorize the myriad types of ALS and test existing drugs on newly identified subcategories. These initiatives already are creating hope for the 30,000 people in the United States living with ALS, they said.
Breen, a graduate of Youngstown State University, is commercial relationship manager at Farmers National Bank of Canfield. Lisa, a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, is deputy arts and culture editor at The Wall Street Journal. Both are graduates of Cardinal Mooney High School.
Crush ALS/Team Bannon has grown from its inception of three riders to 10 this year plus three crew members, including Breen’s son, Adam, and Lisa’s daughter, Nell.
Not only is the team growing, so is the amount of money it raises.
“Last year, with seven riders, we were the single biggest fundraiser of the trek, raising $84,000. This year we aim to bring in $100,000,” Breen said.
“The ride gives us the inspiration to do anything we put our minds to, especially continued focus on finding a treatment/cure for ALS,” he said.
“The ride gives us a sense of gratitude to all who support us,” Lisa added. “We are determined to ride this grueling trek every year until scientists discover an effective treatment for this devastating disease. Maybe it will be this year.”
In a letter to supporters, Breen thanked them for their donations and especially their moral support through the years.
“I am proud and humbled by your generosity. You don’t have to give every year, and you don’t have to give much. For those who do give, please know you are making a difference,” he said.