Brigance Brigade Foundation hosting annual run/walk at Maryland Zoo to fight against ALS
The Brigance Brigade Foundation is hosting its annual run/walk fundraiser at the Maryland Zoo on Saturday, April 26. The event will raise awareness and money for ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease.
For the 13th year, the foundation, started by former Baltimore Ravens linebacker and Super Bowl champion O.J. Brigance and his wife Chanda, is putting on its 5.7K and 1.57-mile fun walk, starting at 8 a.m.
WJZ is the proud media sponsor of the Brigance Brigade Foundation's Race and Family-Fun Run/Walk.
The event raises funds for the foundation's PALS (People Living with ALS) grants program. The funds help make sure families get the equipment, supplies, and resources they need while navigating ALS.
"As we know, when we're diagnosed with something, it does have a rippling effect. It does affect the whole family and friends as well," Chanda Brigance said in 2024. "So to know that all of these people, plus even more, are helping means the world."
The Brigance Brigade Foundation was formed in 2007 after O.J. Brigance was diagnosed with ALS.
Brigance played for the Baltimore Ravens during the 2000 Super Bowl championship season. He was second on the Ravens with 25 special teams tackles, and he led the team with 10 special teams tackles in the postseason.
You can learn more about their cause by visiting their website brigancebrigade.org.
Hundreds supported the cause in 2024
In 2024, more than 500 people came out to the Brigance Bridge run/walk to support families navigating ALS.
Barbra Grammer told WJZ she crossed the finish line for the love of her life, Dave.
"For her dad and my husband. We lost him six years ago. He fought it for nine years and then his sister fought it for 12 years and died the year before she was born," said Barbra Grammer, longtime Brigance Brigade Foundation Race participant.
Grammer and her daughter Laura Mair are proud members of the Brigance Brigade.
"They supported us through grants for caregivers during tough times, that is not supported by insurance, so they really helped us," said Laura Mair, a Brigance Brigade Foundation Race participant.
Mair said that before Dave died, their family received help from the Brigance Brigade.
"They really helped us with that," Mair said. "Also, for a lift feature for his wheelchair, which is a quality of life thing that's also not supported, but it can raise you to eye level, you could sit at bar tops and everything. So it really gets you some quality of life."
