'I'm not quitting': NYC trailblazer Dan Doctoroff opens up about fight against ALS, search for cure
NEW YORK (WABC) -- May is ALS Awareness Month, and in honor of the campaign, ABC 7 New York profiles one well-known New Yorker who's finding a way to make a difference while battling the disease.
ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. A person's brain loses connection with the muscles, slowly taking away their ability to walk, talk, eat and eventually breathe.
The hard reality is that there is currently no cure for ALS yet, but there is hope.
Look up the definition of a can-do New Yorker, and it's likely that people will see a picture of Dan Doctoroff.
Over the last quarter century, Doctoroff has been one of the most important and productive people in New York City, from coordinating the rebuilding of New York after the 9/11 terror attacks, to rezoning what would become important blocks in the biggest city of the country.
"I asked Dan to be deputy mayor for economic development when I first met him, and he was working on trying to get the Olympics to come to New York," former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He was tireless, he was insightful about how we were going to get this done."
Doctoroff graduated from Harvard with a degree in government and with a law degree from the University of Chicago. No one questioned his intelligence.
But now it is Doctoroff's heart that is being saluted, as the former government official is in the fight of his life against ALS. In so many ways, he's also fighting something greater: the search for a cure for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease after one of the greatest New York Yankees.
Eyewitness News anchor Bill Ritter recently interviewed Doctoroff, and it was clear it was hard for him to speak, but through it all, he smiled.
"I'm happy," he told Eyewitness News. He also said, "I'm so lucky."
Doctoroff is no stranger to ALS. More than a decade ago, his father died from the disease, and so did his uncle. He ultimately started a medical research foundation to help others fight this disease.
Like others who have seen family members die from ALS, Doctoroff was not shocked by his own diagnosis back in 2021. But for someone whose career depended on talking to people, not being able to talk has not been easy. While talking is harder for him, he's fortunately had a close partner who's now talking for him: his wife Alisa.
They met at Harvard when they were both 18 years old and they've been together ever since.
"This sucks, this is terrible. There are no words, really, to describe how awful it is," his wife Alisa told Eyewitness News. "You don't have a choice in terms of what you're dealt, right? But you have a choice in what you do with it."
During the conversation, Alisa said that helping to find a cure for ALS is now her family's purpose, which includes their three married kids and five grandchildren.
"It is a long bond, and it's been strengthened by lots of experiences that we've had together, and certainly I would say this most recent experience of him being diagnosed with the ALS and living with ALS has made that bond even stronger," she said.
Next month, Doctoroff will be honored by the country's most prestigious ALS group: the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Wings Over Wall Street program. Like him, it is also raising money to find a cure for ALS. Two different groups, but with one big goal.
"I feel like his legacy in the city -- I mean, yes, there is physical legacy all over the place. You know. you look around and you see buildings where there didn't used to be buildings. You see trees where there didn't use to be trees, parks where there didn't used to be parks, bikes lanes where there were not bike lanes. You know, the city's been marked physically by him," his wife said. "But I also think that the spirit that he has addressed, not only city things. So, like the city worked, government can work if you bring the right people together, and I think the same is true with Target ALS."
Despite his condition, Doctoroff remains positive. "We're making incredible progress," he told Bill Ritter. And then he offered this message: "I'm not quitting, and I'll do everything I can."
Or as his friend and former boss Michael Bloomberg would have said: "He's almost as stubborn as I am. Before I met Dan, I wasn't sure that was even possible. But Dan's stubbornness is a big reason why New York City won the Olympics without ever hosting it, and why we were able to transform New York City in so many ways and why the prospects for an ALS cure are now brighter than ever. Dan, for being endlessly stubborn in all that you do, thank you."
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