Lost in the many stories and wrinkles and layers of intrigue regarding the Saints bounty scandal is the fact that former Saints special-teams standout Steve Gleason now suffers from ALS.
Recently, Gleason and former teammate Scott Fujita appeared at the United Nations Social Innovation Summit 2012. Gleason’s foundation — Team Gleason — received a $25,000 Chase Community Giving Award grant during the three-day event.
Gleason and Fujita spoke about the important role of technology for patients who are dealing with the progressively degenerative impact of the disease. “To cure ALS medically is not economical,” Gleason said, via Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “The realities are that it’s difficult to find funding for research for a medical cure. I believe in developing technology as opposed to medical research. Technology can be economical.”
“What ALS takes away, technology can give back,” added Fujita, who lost an uncle to ALS in the 1990s.
The remarks from Gleason and Fujita can be seen at the United Nations website, starting at roughly 1:10 into Part 2 of the video.
Support for Team Gleason can be expressed via its website, which now includes one of the ways in which Steve is using technology to aid in his fight — the development of his synthetic voice.