When UCSF clinician Richard Olney, MD, noticed weakness in his legs in summer 2003, he thought it was a symptom of spinal nerve compression that could be easily corrected with surgery. But one year and three operations later, the symptoms remained. What’s more, the weakness had spread to his arms. It was soon clear to him and his colleagues that the unthinkable had happened. Richard Olney—one of the country’s top ALS scientists—had developed the disease himself.

An incommunicable neurodegenerative disorder, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease—strikes one in 1,000 people, usually between the ages of 45 and 65. It causes loss of muscle control through a deterioration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The effects are irreversible and invariably fatal, often within months of diagnosis.

Olney’s interest in this tragic condition began during his junior high years, when the illness claimed the daughter of a favorite teacher. Following medical school, Olney devoted his career to clinical care of ALS patients. In 1993 he became the founding director of the ALS Clinic at UCSF, renaming it the ALS Center in 2000 to reflect the growing level of collaboration between researchers and multidisciplinary clinicians at the facility. Housed within the Department of Neurology, the Center is now recognized as one of the best in the nation and is one of only two of its caliber in California.

His diagnosis led Olney to retire from the ALS Center and take on a new role—that of a patient. He currently takes part in intensive physical therapy to slow the disease’s progress through his body and has signed up for clinical trials to help his colleagues test promising new treatments.

Olney has also created a fund to support UCSF’s continued search for a cure. Depending on donor response, the fund could provide support for research projects, fellowships or a position such as a chair or professorship—to name a few possibilities. To date, the fund totals nearly $125,000 in gifts and pledges.

“There is hope for conquering this disease, and that hope lies in the work done at the ALS Center at UCSF,” Olney says. “I’ve spent my life investigating the causes of ALS and searching for a cure. While my illness brings with it many cruel ironies, a major one is leaving this work undone.”

To give to the Fund to Honor Richard K. Olney, MD, please contact Sue Merrilees at 415/514-2612 or smerrilees@support.ucsf.edu.