JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than 100 people came together Sunday morning to help a local JSO officer diagnosed with ALS.
B3 Better Sports Performance, a Jacksonville gym held a fitness challenge to raise money for Jimmy Judge.
Judge has been an officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for 30 years.
Back in 2018 he rose to the ranks of assistant chief.
“I wake up every day and put my uniform on. I still put my gym clothes on. I’m not strong anymore but I try to do a little bit,” Judge said.
But his life took a turn on May 14, 2020, when he was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive nervous system disease that weakens muscles and impacts physical function. It’s also commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“It was a pretty traumatic experience, it’s been about a 2-year journey. We’ve known something was wrong, me and my wife. We didn’t know what and a couple of friends promoted me to start getting tested for things,” Judge said.
When Judge's friend Eric Diggs, the operations director at B3 Better Sports Performance found out, he got to work.
He organized the Jimmy Judge Fitness challenge to help raise money for Judge and his family.
“He has some challenges ahead of him. Some out of pocket expenses for stem cell and some other things so it’s important that we give back to him,” Diggs said.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, as many as 30,000 people in the U.S. are affected by ALS with 5,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
Judge told me unfortunately there’s not a lot of awareness for the disease and there’s no cure.
“It is terminal so it’s all bad news except the one ray of sunshine is that it’s shown me how much people care about me and how good people can be,” he said.
B3 Better Sports Performance tells us they raised over 8,500 dollars for Jimmy and his family and they’re still collecting donations.
If you would like to help you can drop off a donation at 11339 Distribution Ave E, Jacksonville, FL 32256.
Or call Eric Driggs at 904-233-6200
Cox Media Group
