Area couple honored by St. Louis ALS Chapter

It was learned this week that Dexter retired minister Vaughn Wright and his wife and caregiver, Nancy, have been honored by the St. Louis Regional Chapter of the ALS Association.

It's an honor, the Wright family agrees, for which they would rather not be in contention, but one just the same that brings them great pride and appreciation for the community in which they live.

Vaughn Wright, who retired as minister of Dexter's First Christian Church on Easter Sunday 2009, has ALS, better known sometimes as Lou Gehrig's Disease. The disease is an aggressive one that over the past few years has worked to rob the body, but not the spirit, of the local minister.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

Even though Wright has lived with the disease ALS for five years, he works to serve others' spiritual and emotional needs. Vaughn and Nancy Wright also serve as an inspiration to The ALS Association's St. Louis Regional Chapter due to their ongoing work with this organization.

Vaughn Wright's diagnosis came in January 2006. The disease, which typically has a two to five year survival rate, forced Wright's early retirement from actively ministering just over a year ago. But through his positive attitude and unrelenting spirit, the inspiration of Vaughn and Nancy Wright continues. That spirit will be honored by the St. Louis Regional Chapter of the ALS Association during the months of May as the association works toward awareness of the disease and the challenges faced by ALS patients.

The Association's St. Louis Regional Chapter has proclaimed the Wrights a family that best exemplifies the spirit of "ALS Across America" for Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri during ALS Awareness Month in May. The "ALS Across America" national campaign recognizes courageous individuals with ALS and their caregivers who are role models to people with Lou Gehrig's Disease. These special individuals reflect the spirit of the organization as they make a positive difference in their community by expanding awareness of ALS and embodying the spirit of living life to the fullest.

"Vaughn never gives up, cares deeply about others' problems, and wants you to share your concerns with him," said Mary Temmen-Riggs, M.S., CRC, LPC, the chapter's patient services director. "He loves everyone unconditionally and continues to want to minister to other people. Both Vaughn and Nancy continue to live their lives as normal by working together, even though they live with ALS. Their faith leads them."

Wright, the ALS organization states, persists in being a spiritual inspiration to those around him. "He lives his life as his ministry has called him -- even with ALS. He led sermons from his wheelchair before his illness caused him to retire from his ministry," Temmen-Riggs said. "His faith in God is remarkable as he continues to live with ALS."

Dealing with ALS has prompted the Wrights to attend to the emotional and physical needs of other families living with this disease. They played a pivotal role, Temmen-Riggs says, in helping the St. Louis Regional Chapter to open an office in Sikeston in January 2010. This office employs one full-time patient services coordinator who assists patients and their families in dealing with the myriad challenges of ALS.

"The Wrights have been an inspiration to the chapter's staff and a driving force in the effort to open that office insuring that patients with ALS in rural Missouri communities will have better services," says Temmen-Riggs.

The Wrights' family and friends within their community have also assisted the chapter, particularly with its fundraising activities. In 2009, members of Wright's First Christian Church and the community hosted a walk/run fun event and called it, "This Run's for Vaughn." The event raised over $12,000 that went toward the mounting medical expenses that ALS brings.

"This is astounding," ALS representatives said later of the Dexter event, "as the population is 7,600 people in the rural town."

In addition to being a motivational force to her neighbors, Nancy Wright, who works as a paraprofessional in Dexter's Public School System, has engaged the staff at T.S. Hill Middle School in fundraising activities for the chapter; she also helps to educate youngsters about ALS and raise awareness of the disease.

Throughout May, The ALS Association and its nationwide network of 42 chapters will reach out to communities across the country to educate the public about Lou Gehrig's Disease and urge people to join The Association in the fight to make ALS a disease of the past.

The Association's National ALS Advocacy Day and Public Policy Conference, which has grown to be the single largest gathering of the ALS community and is part of ALS Awareness Month, will be held this year on May 9 -11 in Washington, D.C.

Vaughn and Nancy Wright will be there, if only in spirit.