What would you do if you were told you had Lou Gerhigs disease? A disease also known as ALS, which is a disease where parts nerve cells that control muscle cells are gradually lost. I honestly don’t know what I would do but I can tell you what a remarkable man named Augie Nieto did. He got busy!
In March of 2005, at the age of 53 Augie Nieto was a thriving entrepreneur and fitness industry leader. His diagnosis of ALS changed the course of his life and positively inspired thousands of others. Augie’s first reaction was, “My first priority is to spend time with my family. What I learned later in my career is that it is not the quantity but the quality of time you spend that matters.”
His next step was to be part of the solution to find a cure for this disease. “My very first step in fighting back was to partner with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which offers the best ALS doctors and health care professionals in the country. Together, MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) and I formed “Augie’s Quest,” which coordinates fundraising events that benefit MDA’s worldwide ALS research program.”
Augie didn’t start his own non-profit but rather partnered with an existing one and created a contract with MDS, clearly defining his terms. First and foremost was that 100% of the donations he raised went to research and to date that figure is somewhere around the 30 million dollar mark and counting. As if that wasn’t enough, in 2007 he co-authored a book entitled Augies Quest: One man’s journey from success to significance.
It has been over eight years since Augie’s diagnosis and the man who built his empire building other’s people’s muscles, has now lost the use of his own. Although he has lost the ability to speak his spirit continues to be unstoppable in his quest to find a cure. Success to significance doesn’t begin to describe this journey.
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