University of La Verne Student Inspired to Help Others at Walk to Defeat ALS

The following was written and submitted for publication by the University of La Verne:

Marcella Marquez is busier than most, working as a substitute teacher while pursuing a master’s degree in education at the University of La Verne. There is little spare time as she works toward her goal of becoming a full-time teacher.

But on Sunday, she walked with others determined to defeat a disease that claimed her father when she was 9. The 10th Annual Inland Empire Walk to Defeat ALS took place at the University of La Verne, and Marquez was scheduled to be there. She is now a committee member who helps organize the event.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. It struck Larry Marquez when his daughter, Marcella, was 9. He died at the age of 46.

As Marquez grew, so did her desire to keep her father’s memory alive.  So in 2009, when she was a sophomore at the University of La Verne and an opportunity presented itself, she jumped at it.

As a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority, she had several friends in the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, and she learned that the ALS Association Foundation was their official philanthropy project. She didn’t think twice about joining the cause.

“I thought this would be a great reason to talk about my dad and a reason to get my family together because of him,” Marquez said. “My involvement initially started off as a sentimental thing, but has progressed to my really wanting to raise money for the cause.”

In 1997, Marcella was in the second grade and one day she received the biggest surprise of her young life. Her father picked her up from school in a new motor home.

“I was so excited that day,” Marquez said. “I felt so cool sitting in the back, doing my homework while he drove home.”

To a 7 year old, it was a cool new family vehicle. But to her father, it was much more.  It was a way he could help create happy childhood memories for his daughter to cherish forever.

Just a few months earlier, Larry Marquez had been diagnosed with ALS, and he was told that it would be only a matter of time until he could no longer drive, walk on his own, eat on his own or have functional control of his entire body.

ALS affects roughly two people per 100,000 per year. It is a relatively rare disease with no cure and victims typically live between two to five years after being diagnosed.

 “Near the end, I remember he couldn’t do anything on his own. He knew what he wanted, what he wanted to say, but he couldn’t express it,” Marquez said of her father. “It was difficult, because even as a kid I could see that inside he was fine.”

Larry Marquez passed away just more than two years after being diagnosed. Marcella, his only child, was 9.

Every year, tens of thousands of dollars are raised in the Inland Empire alone through the annual Walk to Defeat ALS event, hosted at the University of La Verne for the past three years.

Since her first year of involvement, Marquez has gone from being captain of her own walk team to volunteering as a committee member for the Golden West Chapter of the ALS Association, covering Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

She was particularly excited about this year’s event, bringing together both sides of her family and her sorority sisters to be a part of “Larry’s Little Wings” — the new name for the team that will walk in memory of her Dad.

“My dad loved Jimi Hendrix, so we decided to call ourselves ‘Larry’s Little Wings,’ named after Jimi’s song, ‘Little Wing,’’’ Marquez said.

Today, at the age of 24, Marquez says that she is in the right place at the right time, surrounded by the right people who can help in the effort of inspiring a community to take action on a disease that typically does not get enough publicity.

“People know that cancer is bad and that public support goes a long way But not as many people are aware of ALS and of its destructiveness,” she said. “By helping this cause, you are helping provide not just important research, but necessary care and equipment that helps victims live a quality life.”

University of La Verne Walk to Defeat ALS Details: 

• This is the 3rd year the Walk has been hosted at the University of La Verne

• 2011 – 715 walkers & raised $50,000
• 2012 – 1,100 walkers & raised over $93,000 (goal was $60,000)