€900,000 raised to finance home for ALS patients

More than €900,000 were raised yesterday evening in a live fund-raiser for a home for people suffering from ALS, a degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

TVM programme Xarabank organised the fund-raiser to help Bjorn Formosa achieve his dream of building a home that would be specially equipped for people living with ALS.

“Thank you to the Maltese people. Now I can go to sleep with my mind at ease, whatever happens,” Formosa, a 31-year-old IT guru who is also the founder of ALS Malta, said at the end of the fundraiser. 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat made a live phone call during the event and announced that the government would be paying for all services needed in the specialised home. 

Many individuals, families and businesses pledged donations of more than €300 and will be have their name featured on customised tiles in the home.

Donations had reached €879,000 by the end of the TV show but, with people kept calling in with more pledges, the final sum reached €900,441. 

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. There is no known treatment or cure. It eventually leads to paralysis, meaning sufferers must live in homes in which doors, appliances, computers and other items can be operated by eye movement.