19-08-2015

ALS League Belgium sends 14 high-tech electric wheelchairs to Taiwan on the International day of humanitarian help

ALS League collaborates with H.Essers for transportation

As part of its international humanitarian collaboration with the Taiwan MND Association, the ALS League Belgium is sending 14 high-tech electric Permobil wheelchairs to Taipei. These wheelchairs will be collected by the transportation company H.Essers at the headquarters of the league Thursday morning and transported to the port of Antwerp. They will be placed on a boat and head off for their 35-day journey to Taiwan. The Taiwan MND Association will pick up the wheelchairs at the port of Taipei in the presence of the press and send them off to its patients. It is noteworthy that this action takes place on the International day of humanitarian help.

ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a deadly nerve muscle disease in which the motor neurons die. The muscles do not get any signals anymore, causing them to paralyze little by little, until the patient can no longer move, talk, swallow and eat. The emotional and intellectual capacities remain intact. On average, patients die 2 to 5 years after the diagnosis, without any hope of healing. More than 350.000 people suffer from ALS around the world, which is approximately 6 in 100.000. Annually about 120.000 are diagnosed with ALS (in other words 328 new patients a day) and about 100.000 die from it. A lot of famous people around the world suffer or have suffered from ALS.

ALS League Belgium, an unsubsidized non-profit organization, tries to make their last years as agreeable as possible by offering them and their families psychosocial and administrative support, lending out communication and mobility aids free of charge, advocating for their rights with the government, stimulating and financing scientific research through the fund A Cure for ALS and offering them tailor-made care through the fund MaMuze.

Address headquarters ALS League:
Campus Sint-Rafael
Blok H, 4th floor
Kapucijnenvoer 33 B/1
3000 Leuven

More information:

● Mia Mahy, ALS Mobility: events@als.be, ALS.be
● Kiki Qu, Taiwan MND Association: +886 2 2585 1367