The Alliance for Lupus Research is holding their 10th Annual Walk with Us to Cure Lupus on Sunday, October 2nd at the National Mall. I am proud to support this event by serving as the 2011 Corporate Chairman and by personally sponsoring this event.The Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) is the largest voluntary health organization solely dedicated to funding lupus research. Founded in 1999, by Robert Wood Johnson IV (owner of the New York Jets), the sole mission of ALR is to fund medical research into the treatment, prevention and, ultimately, cure of lupus.

Lupus is a chronic, debilitating, life threatening autoimmune disease that affects 1 in 200 Americans. Ninety percent are women; African-Americans are at a three times greater risk of contracting the disease than the rest of the population. There is no cure and only one new treatment for the disease has been approved by the FDA in over 50 years. Until the founding of the ALR in 1999, there was little hope for those suffering from lupus. Now hope is on the horizon with better genetic understanding of the disease and more new treatments in clinical trials than ever before. However, a cure is still a distant dream. With your support the ALR can continue to fund vital biomedical research that will ultimately find the answer to put an end to lupus once and for all.

The Walk with Us to Cure Lupus program is the Alliance for Lupus Research’s signature fundraising and awareness program taking place across the country. The ALR Board of Directors pays all ALR administrative and fundraising costs, so 100% of all donations received go directly to support lupus research programs. I’m sponsoring a Ted’s Take team for $10,000 and would like to invite you to join me by walking. The walk will be a fun event with entertainment, food and Elliot from Elliot in the Morning will be the emcee. It’s a great event and one the whole family will enjoy.

If you’d like to walk you can register by visiting my webpage and click on the red Register button on the left hand side of the page or you can contact Sheri Kirkpatrick at the ALR office at 732-842-1607 or via email at skirkpatrick@lupusresearch.org. We’d love to see a big turnout of Monumental employees. Come join my team – I’ve already paid!