Longest surviving ALS patient to participate in Okanagan Walk for ALS

When participants gather at Polson Park in Vernon for Saturday’s Walk for ALS, they’ll be in the company of a very special guest.

Steve Wells is the world’s longest living survivor of the disease and an advocate for those who live with it.

He flew into the Okanagan from Toronto on Friday to take part in the walk with some old friends.

“Steve and I met way back when we were going to school,” said Susan Egan, who now lives in Vernon. “In fact, we met at a football game.”

It was during those days at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., when Wells was 21, that he was diagnosed with ALS.

That was 39 years ago.

Eighty per cent of ALS victims live only two to five years after a diagnosis, and since the passing of fellow ALS sufferer Stephen Hawking, Wells is the longest living survivor of the disease in the world.

He lives at Toronto East General Hospital now. He works as a day trader, and, in his spare time, he collects art and is enrolled in online university courses.

Wells’ next challenge is to participate in as many ALS walks across the country as he can, beginning Saturday, in Vernon.

“Steve is trapped in a body that no longer works, but he’s optimistic, he loves life, and he’s so inspirational,” Egan said.