Dr. Ernest Evens Shares Followup On Former KCPD Officer Valiantly Fighting ALS

Former KCPD officer Sarah Olsen remains one of Kansas City's finest amid her battle with ALS and today we're blessed with this bit of advocacy and reporting from a longtime reader and favorite from our blog community. 

Check-it . . . 

Dr. Ernest Evans: The FDA Should Approve Nurown Now

  As the regular readers of my column in the Leavenworth Times know, every Thanksgiving I do a column about someone in the Kansas City area whom we should all be thankful for. In 2020 my column highlighted the brave struggle of Off. (Ret.) Sarah Olsen Nauser against ALS--also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.  Because of her illness Off. Sarah had to retire from the KCPD in 2018--but she has done wonderful work in publicizing the international struggle to find a cure for  this terrible disease.

    I have been a loyal member of "Sarah's Soldiers Against ALS" from the beginning of her struggle against ALS.  Our motto is "Fight Like a Girl"--and we are all doing just that to help "our girl Sarah."

   From being part of this campaign to help Sarah I have become aware of the various experiments that are currently underway to find drugs that can treat ALS.  One experimental drug that has shown some promise in fighting the disease is called NurOwn.  A number of people who are suffering from ALS, including Sarah, have petitioned the FDA to approve the use of NurOwn in combatting ALS.

    Now, for the record, I am the wrong sort of doctor to be able to assess whether NurOwn really is effective in fighting ALS.  The last biology course I took was in high school where all we did was cut up frogs.  

    But, as a student of politics, my "rule of thumb" with respect to experimental drugs to fight diseases is to ask the question:  Is the disease in question invariably terminal?  And, yes, tragically, no one has ever survived ALS.(I and my prayer group have been praying for a miracle in Sarah's case since we got the news of her illness in the spring of 2018.)  Given that ALS is a terminal disease, I can see no harm om allowing those afflicted with the disease to have access to NurOwn.

   In sum, given the realities of the terrible illness that ALS is, I very much hope that the FDA approves its use as soon as possible for those like Sarah who are so bravely battling this disease.

############

Developing . . .