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Glenbrook student honors grandfather in ALS Assc. event

By Rick Sobey

Staff Intern



LONGMEADOW Elise Kei-Rahn is not a typical eighth grader. On Friday afternoons, most teenagers are anxiously waiting for the end of the day. They are daydreaming about events in the upcoming weekend and whether their secret crush will ask them to the movies. However, Elise was thinking of a much more important topic on Friday, March 14.

During that afternoon at Glenbrook Middle School, Elise honored her late grandfather Sigmund Kei who was a patient of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

In her grandfather's memory, Elise honored him by hosting a student versus teacher dodgeball contest to support the ALS Association of Connecticut and Voice For Joanie. The latter organization provides support and computerized voice machines to victims of ALS. This allows the patients the ability to communicate.

Leslie Rahn, mother of Elise, was very excited that this event occurred and that every student and staff member was involved.

"The Glenbrook Middle School community has truly come together to fight ALS," Rahn said. "It's a horrific and incurable disease, which needs these events for research toward a cure."

Elise's community project was a part of her Bat Mitzvah, which is a Jewish ritual honoring a child's maturation toward adulthood. Her Bat Mitzvah ceremony will take place March 29 at Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, Conn.

According to her mother, Elise wanted her Bat Mitzvah service to occur last year, so she could share the event with her grandfather. Unfortunately, he was unable to survive. Instead of having it last year, Elise will now honor him at her upcoming Bat Mitzvah.

"She adores and respects her grandfather so much," Rahn said. "Elise thus honors her beloved grandfather with a Bat Mitzvah date closest to his birthday."

Elise will be commemorating her ceremony of maturation to her grandmother as well.

"She dedicates this Bat Mitzvah to both her grandparents, Harriet and Sigmund Kei, who walked an entire lifetime literally hand-in-hand," Rahn said, "and who faced the absolute horrors of this devastating disease [ALS] in the very same manner as one."

ALS is a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. During ALS, motor neurons degenerate and the brain is unable to control muscle movement. Lou Gehrig's Disease robs the body of all voluntary muscle control, patients do not have the ability to swallow or speak and they eventually become paralyzed.

In order to make a donation online to the ALS Association, log on to www.alsa.org/donate and use the form on the Web site. You can also make a donation over the phone by calling (888) 949-2577. Donations by mail should be sent to The ALS Association, Development Department, 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 150, Calabasas Hills, CA 91301.