MDA Walk Helps Keep Family’s Hope Alive

By Beth Earnest Daily Herald Correspondent

It’s all the Dobes family has, they say. If they don’t keep hope alive, they fear they might not be able to deal with reality as they know it.

Jim Dobes suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS – a neuromuscular disease that slowly melts a person’s muscles until he no longer can move. Commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS eventually stops vital muscles like the heart and diaphragm.

“It is killing me slowly and methodically,” the 35-year-old former tool-and-die plant foreman from Westmont wrote in an e-mail.

It is hard for Dobes to focus on the future. So instead, he says, he keeps his eye on the present and what he can do to fight the disease.

That’s where the Muscular Dystrophy Association Great Walk Moving For Muscles comes in. The walk, which steps off at 11 a.m. Saturday along the Naperville Riverwalk, raises money to fight muscular dystrophy and ALS.

Last year, 350 participants raised more than $71,000 for the cause, walk coordinator Carol Sabzali said.

Each participant is required to raise at least $63, which funds one minute of research.

In 2003 – the year he was diagnosed – Dobes and his wife, Kelly, gathered a team of 107 participants and named it “Jim’s Crew.” Together, members of the group raised more than $18,000. Though Dobes still can walk with assistance, Kelly will be pushing him along the 3.1-mile route.

He said he feels it’s important to give as much as he can to the MDA.

“They’re very helpful and generous with their resources,” he wrote.

And, of course, the organization keeps hope alive that there will someday be a cure – a possibility that keeps Dobes and his family going.

Since he was diagnosed, he, Kelly and their two young children have struggled to deal with his limited capabilities.

Last year, Kelly wrote to the “Total Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” team to request a home makeover.

The family lives in a tri-level house with steep stairs, which has made it difficult for Jim to get around. He has had several nasty falls, Kelly wrote, and needs to live in a home with no stairs.

The family considered moving to another house, she wrote, but decided against it, because Jim said he wanted to die surrounded by friends and neighbors he has known for years.

“I knew in my heart that staying put was the right thing to do, despite the hardships we’re facing in this house because of the floor plan,” Kelly wrote.

The TV show didn’t choose them for a home makeover, Jim said, but he and Kelly tried their best not to be too disappointed.

“Someone else needed it more than us,” he wrote.

Instead, he and his wife focused their energy on the walk. Raising money for research, they knew, was their best shot at crafting a better life for themselves – and their best shot at keeping hope alive.