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The late Gov. Paul Cellucci with his wife, Jan Cellucci. |
Shortly after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci informed his doctor, Robert H. Brown Jr., MD, DPhil, that he wanted to raise funding and awareness to support the groundbreaking ALS research underway in Dr. Brown’s lab toward a cure. He knew it would be his final public campaign and dedicated himself to the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund, according to an interview with his wife, Jan Cellucci, in the Sunday, July 14, edition of the Boston Globe.
“When we finally got outside in a private place, in the car, I was like: ‘Paul, we have been in public life for 35 years,” Jan Cellucci told Globe columnist Thomas Farragher, of her late husband’s decision to launch the drive. “You now have a terminal diagnosis and you are proposing to go back fund-raising and being in the public sphere while you are dying?’ And he said, ‘Yes, another campaign.’ ’’
Gov. Cellucci died of complications of ALS in June 2013 at age 65. With the full support of Jan Cellucci, the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund is continuing to bring in money to support the work of Brown, the Leo P. and Theresa M. LaChance Chair in Medical Research, chair and professor of neurology, and his colleagues at UMMS. Read the full column here, Jan Cellucci keeps Paul Cellucci’s memory alive by fighting his killer, ALS
