Ron Aymar's ALS diagnosis spurs community support

A small community in southwestern Nova Scotia is rallying around a local man who received a devastating diagnosis last year, by raising more than $100,000 for him and his family.

Ron Aymar, of Meteghan, was diagnosed with ALS in October.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, causes muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the body. People who are affected by the disorder eventually lose the ability to initiate and control all voluntary movement. It is a fatal disease.

By April, ALS was causing the 58-year-old to feel weak — so much so, he felt he had no choice but to retire as general manager of the Clare Golf and Country Club, where he had worked for 25 years.

"It was very difficult. I loved the job I did but it had to be done," said Aymar.

Aymar made a lot of friends at the golf course. After hearing of his diagnosis, many of them wanted to help him and his family. But he didn't want any help from friends at first.

"When you get diagnosed with an incurable disease, you have a lot of sorting out to do. We didn't want any help. We wanted to deal with it privately," he said.

But over time, Aymar and his wife, Bernadette, realized they needed help.

"A lot of people want to help and they don't know how to help so we figured we'd let them do what they needed to do," he said.

Those friends organized a golf tournament on Sept. 6 to raise money for Aymar and his family — and celebrate his career at the Clare Golf and Country Club.

Raymond Tufts, from Saulnierville, is an old friend of Aymar's. They met at Clare District High School, where Tufts was a teacher.

Golf tournament raises $100K

Tufts chaired the committee that organized the tournament for Aymar. In all, 94 teams signed up and thousands of dollars was raised. Money is still coming in and the fund reached $100,000 — about four times what the committee expected to raise.

"Ron is very well known and respected in both the community of Clare and the Nova Scotia golfing community. This thing just really exploded," said Tufts.

"Everybody wanted to participate. And it's just unbelievable the participation and support that we got."

Aymar said he's overwhelmed.

"We're still trying to come to grips with it. We sit down every day, my wife and I, and we thank our blessings," he said.

Though he wanted to be at the tournament all day, Aymar said he would have been too tired. Instead he attended a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon.

"Unfortunately my health doesn't allow me to spend the whole day there. I would have liked to be able to see everyone and talk to everyone, just getting around a little bit is tiring me quite a bit," he said.

Aymar said he and his wife will have to make renovations to their house, but they are not yet sure how they'll spend the money.

"We haven't really had a chance to sit down and figure out exactly what we're going to need and where and when," he said.

The Ron Aymar Benefit Fund is still accepting donations at any of the four Caisse populaire de Clare, or at the Pro-Shop at the Clare Golf and Country Club.