Community Comes Together To Help Lynbrook Cop With ALS

The Long Island community is coming together to help a police officer from Lindenhurst who was recently diagnosed with ALS.

Ronald Fleury, an officer with the Lynbrook Police Department, was diagnosed last February with the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

ALS is a fast-progressing neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

The 53-year-old local resident is married with three children under the age of 19. He was diagnosed with the disease last February.

A fundraiser was held for Fleury last week, which was attended by local Senator John Brooks.

The event helped to raise money for expenses include a motorized wheelchair, renovations to his home to make it wheelchair accessible, a wheelchair-accessible van to take him to his many doctor appointments, as well as extremely expensive, newly-approved medications.

In addition, a GoFundMe page was created in December to raise money for the Ronald J. Fleury Family Trust.

The page was created by Joseph Cipolla on behalf of Fleury's wife, Donna Fleury. The goal is to raise a total of $100,000. As of Monday, the page has raised a total of $3,630.

"Ron has always been a generous man," Cipolla wrote on the page. "He has been one of the first to give of his time and money whenever someone else needed help. Now he needs your help."

To read more or to donate visit the GoFundMe page here.