Shady's charity event ‘a blessing to all of us'

LANCASTER, Pa. -- Its about 90 minutes before the LeSean McCoy Foundation Celebrity Softball Tournament Saturday evening, and Don Smay is sitting in the stands at Clipper Magazine Stadium watching a bunch of current and former NFL players warm up for the big game.

A huge crowd is filing into the spectacular minor-league stadium in downtown Lancaster for an event thats been sold out for weeks and benefits the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ALS Association in its fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a neuro-muscular disease that is almost always fatal with two to five years.

Smay, an Air Force veteran and avid outdoorsman from nearby Elizabethtown, was diagnosed with ALS in 2007 and has been bound to a wheelchair for about six months now. But as he sits behind home plate on a beautiful evening, he smiles broadly as he watches stars like McCoy, DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick on the field below.

Its a blessing to all of us that somebody like LeSean is putting on an event like this, Smay said. You think about the power behind his name, and his ability to attract this kind of crowd and raise a lot of money? Its really a blessing. He doesnt have to do this. It truly shows the depth of his character that he put this together.

Smay knows a little something about character.

Hes been battling ALS for five years now, and, as his wife Tracey said, hasnt complained once about the hand hes been dealt.

Im amazed by his attitude, Tracey said. Ive never seen him ask why this happened to him or complain about it. Hes a brave guy.

Smays story is certainly an inspiring one.

As a kid, he was active in sports and was still playing competitive indoor soccer well into his 30s. When he wasnt playing basketball or soccer, he was out hunting, trapping, fishing or hiking the length of the Grand Canyon.

I loved to work out, he said. I loved to sweat.

It was soon after a long 30-mile hike along a stretch of the Appalachian Trail in Central Pennsylvania in 2007 that during a routine doctors appointment his doctor noticed his arm twitching.

I didnt even notice it, he said. But he did.

After a battery of tests, he was diagnosed with ALS.

My first reaction was ... Well, this sucks, he said with a laugh. But Im not one to feel sorry for myself. I looked at it like it was just a new stage in my life. I just figured it was part of Gods plan, and Ive learned not to question it.

I had to modify the way I did some things, but with the support Ive gotten from my friends, my family and my wife, I make it work.

Soon after he was diagnosed, Smay told his son Alex his condition meant he probably wouldnt be able to hunt anymore.

He told me, Oh, youre going to hunt, Smay said. Youre not going to stop hunting.

Thanks to the ALS Foundation, the Smays were able to rig up Dons wheelchair so he could continue to hunt. As he began losing the ability to lift his arms, additional modifications were made to his chair.

Smay, retired from John Deere, works these days as a youth leader for seventh-grade boys at Community Bible Church.

I think hes an inspiration to all of them, said close friend Greg Barge, who also attends the church. The way he lives his life, the way he treats people. It inspires them to do the same and live their lives the same way.

Smay spoke of an acquaintance who was diagnosed with ALS about the same time he was. He said his friend never was able to cope with it, never left the house, even while he was still relatively healthy and able to walk.

He died about three months after he was diagnosed, Smay says, shaking his head sadly. Ive seen people who gave up, and theyre the ones who dont hold up.

Smay is holding up just fine, thanks in great part to his tremendous inner strength and the support of his family but also thanks to the ALS Association and McCoys commitment to this cause.

On Saturday night, Smay watched a team of Eagles players including Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson, Jamar Chaney, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Brian Rolle and Brian Westbrook play softball against Team NFL, which included NFL stars like 1,000-yard receiver Steve Breaston, Browns star rookie receiver Greg Little and Lancaster native Ryan Purvis of the Giants, along with agent Drew Rosenhaus and Evan Turner and Xavier Silas of the Sixers.

DRC hit three home runs, Jon Dorenbos hit two, and the Eagles won 18-14 in a seven-inning, two-hour game that seemed to leave everybody in the crowd of 7,472 with a smile on their face.

But whats really important is that the game raised over 100,000 to battle a crippling disease that has personally touched McCoy and his family.

McCoy, the Eagles 23-year-old Pro Bowl tailback, lost his grandmother, Maryann Branch, in 2010 after a battle with ALS, and McCoy is determined to do all he can to fight back.

People like Smay and the 30,000 other Americans stricken by ALS are why McCoy spent much of the off-season planning Saturdays celebrity charity home run derby and softball game.

The ALS Association provides care and services throughout the greater Philadelphia region that directly help people like Smay.

The ALS Association has been monumental in helping us and so many people like us maintain some sort of sanity, Smay said. With the resources they have available, we get the best care we can have.

And because of Shady, the ALS has considerably more resources available today than it did a couple days ago.

Its amazing that he would offer to come right here to Lancaster and do this, Smay said. It just means so much to all of us.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com