Tenth annual Kamloops Walk to End ALS has special meaning for local family

While ALS took his life before he could see that dream become a reality, his family says Clayton would be extremely proud of the annual event.

“It was his goal to have a walk in Kamloops,” said Clayton’s mother, Ellen Smailes, “so when he passed away that was our first year of the walk and we’ve been going ever since.”

Ellen says her son was always keeping the family laughing.

“His speeches used to make us laugh for months after because he dreamt up the silliest topics and made them fun,” she said.

File Photo

Clayton was working for CFJC as a camera person when his family started noticing some changes.

“We started to notice his speech was a little, not slurred, but just that he wasn’t enunciating as he normally did as he was a very accomplished public speaker,” said Clayton’s wife, Colleen. “Maybe in hindsight people didn’t notice that, but to us that knew him well, his speech was one of the first things that we noticed a change.”

In 2003, Clayton was diagnosed with ALS.

“I was five months pregnant at the time,” Colleen said, “and Clayton was full into his career and working and loving his job and I was just starting teaching and so we were on the upward swing I guess, moving on with life and then had a total bombshell fall on us.”

The Smailes stayed positive through the grim diagnosis and received support from the ALS Society of BC.

Clayton would eventually lose his ability to walk and speak.

“He, through the ALS Society again, used a computer, way back then it was called ERICA, and he typed with his eyes, it was eye-gaze technology where he typed with his eyes and the computer spoke for him,” Colleen said.

Clayton attended the walk to end ALS in Kelowna for the two years prior to his death, surrounded by Team Two Guns.

He passed away in 2009, but Team Two Guns and the Smailes family have carried on his legacy at the Kamloops Walk.

“The reason that I plowed forward and said I want to be a part of this team is because of the Smailes family,” said walk coordinator, Pat Tomlinson. “They’ve all stayed on board, they’re all on the walk committee, we’ve drawn on their expertise for the first five years of what to do and maybe what not to do.”

As the Smailes prepare to attend the walk in Kamloops for the tenth time, there is a sense that Clayton is smiling on the event.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

“I think he’d pat us on the back and say, ‘good on you guys, you’re doing good,'” said Ellen Smailes.

The Walk to End ALS will take place this Saturday (Jun 22) at Riverside Park.

The event kicks of at 8:00 a.m. with a pancake breakfast for participants and volunteers, followed by registration at 9:00. The walk itself begins at 10:00 a.m.

“We’re not gathering because of a happy occasion,” Tomlinson said. “We’ve lost people to ALS and we also have people living with ALS that join us at the walk, but there’s a feeling like a reunion, like this immense support for one another, people are smiling and saying, ‘hey, how’s it going?'”

More than $12,000 has been donated to the walk so far online, and more is expected to come in on the day of.

Over the past nine years nearly $400,000 has been raised for the ALS Society of BC.

This year, the ALS Society is searching for a new walk coordinator, as Tomlinson will be leaving the role.

“I’m very passionate about doing work for people with ALS and when I decided to take this position on I said, ‘you know, I’m going to do it for five years. I’m going to see it through to five years no matter what,’ and that’s come up,” Tomlinson said. “But, in the meantime I’ve taken on different roles within ALS BC, so I will always be involved.”

by Jill Sperling

Tenth annual Kamloops Walk to End ALS has special meaning for local family

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