June 10, 2025 - Sally's Birthday

• ​Sally would have celebrated her 71st birthday this year.  She is deeply missed by her family and friends but her legacy lives on through the Sally Panfel ALS In-Home Care and Respite Program.  A "Sally Day" is any day that you have a sweet memory of this wonderful friend, mother, sister, wife and advocate. Please consider donating to the program on your "Sally Day".  It is the best way to honor her memory and 100% of your donation will go directly to this program.

About Sally Panfel and the Program

They say you know what a person is made of by the way she responds to adversity.

If so, then our sister Sally showed people that she was made of love after her diagnosis with ALS in 2012.

Even though the news was devastating to Sally and her family, she did not sit around feeling sorry for herself. Rather, she worried about other ALS patients who were less financially capable of dealing with the demands of this deadly disease; and, then, she did something about it.

Sally understood how difficult living with ALS can be on both patients and their caregivers. She knew that care is expensive and that many families could not afford to have someone come in to provide it, even for an hour.

She appreciated what a big difference a little time away could make. And, make a difference it has.

In February 2017, working with the ALS Association of Georgia, Sally and her husband Mark established The Sally Panfel In-Home Care and Respite Program. It was something they had been developing for two years prior to that.

When people who love Sally asked what they could do to help her, she and Mark would tell them to make a gift to the program, extending the love so many people showed them to include others.

As a result, over 60 families have received 14,000 hours of caregiver relief and respite care, allowing them to access services that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

Sally’s battle with ALS ended in July, 2018, but her legacy of love for others survives.  We know that she would want us to continue to help those who need it most; to think big and spread as much love as possible. That’s why we are excited to announce an effort to provide 50,000 caregiver relief and respite hours in her name through the ALS Association of Georgia.

Over the next year, we will be asking people who loved Sally to join us in making multi-year commitments to The ALS Association of Georgia’s Sally Panfel In-Home Care and Respite Program.

For each $20 that is donated, a patient’s caregiver can get one hour off. Caregivers work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Imagine what an hour or several hours off means to them.

Importantly, 100% of each dollar contributed goes directly to caregiver relief and respite care.

At that time, you can learn more about how you can help us provide 50,000 hours of care in Sally’s memory. If you can’t join us, one of Sally’s friends or family will be in touch in the coming months to invite you to participate in Sally’s conspiracy of love.

Like you, we were amazed by the grace and humor Sally showed as she lived with ALS. We are inspired to follow her example and look forward to having you join us as we show others just what our sister was made of.

Mary and Greta

For More Information on the Program:

Contact Liza Nordmark - liza@alsgeorgia.org

https://youtu.be/HhT-oeaphLI