CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians are facing the Kansas City Royals Monday night, but it’s much more than just baseball. The Guardians are hosting an ALS Awareness Night in partnership with Phi Delta Theta, Live Like Lou Foundation and the Permobil Foundation.

Cleveland native, Gia Polo, will be attending the game as a fan, but mostly as someone who’s been impacted by ALS, which stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Her father, Carl, was diagnosed with the disease in 2021 and died a year and a half later. Polo is happy that the Guardians are bringing attention to the disease and trying to create more awareness.

“National recognition for a disease that’s so devastating and has taken so many lives is so important. You know awareness and advocacy are the way that we’re going to get, you know, eventually a cure for ALS,” Polo said.

Many MLB teams across the league are part of raising awareness for ALS because of Lou Gehrig, a former baseball player who passed away from the disease in 1941. The Live Like Lou foundation, among other organizations, want to continue his legacy. Steve Good, with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, is one of the people trying to keep Gehrig’s legacy alive.

“Just for people to kind of understand what this thing is, is important to us and just understand it and also bring to light the legacy of Lou Gehrig,” Good said. 

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerves in the spinal cord and brain, according to the ALS Association. Around 5,000 people are diagnosed with the disease each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Good said that ALS, in comparison to other diseases, is relatively small in the amount of people it impacts, but it is a disease that changes lives forever.

“People live two to five years normally with this disease, and it’s 100% fatal,” Good said. 

Polo said her dad would be really proud when it comes to the work that people are doing to shed light on ALS.