20th Annual ALS Walleye Tournament

Anglers Head Out to Island Lake to Find a Cure

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The Kolar Toyota ALS Walleye Tournament event has been going on since 1995.

In those 20 years, it has raised over $2.3 million.

This year they are eyeing $190,000 to go towards a disease that is affecting so many.

“When you’re living with ALS, everything still goes on around you,” said Mark Buermann.

In 2008, Buermann’s life was changed forever.

“Your body has to adapt and you have to change and you give up all the things you’ve enjoyed in the past,” Buermann explained.

For seven years, he’s been living with a sub–type of ALS.

“I do fall quite often. I use my cane to walk, or in a power chair,” he said.

Also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, it attacks the central nervous system.

“I have to go down my stairs backwards so I don’t fall anymore,” explained Buermann,

The illness has sidelined Buermann from the things he loved most.

“You give up skiing, basketball, playing with the kids and doing the hard core sports, that’s been tough,” Buermann said.

But, not quite everything.

“My passion in life right now is fishing walleyes,” Buermann said.

Friday night, hundreds celebrated the kick–off to the 20th Annual ALS Walleye Tournament on Island Lake, an event that raises money for finding a cure.

“Anglers don’t have to do anything but worry about where the best walleye is,” laughed Jennifer Hjelle, Executive Director at the ALS Association.

For Buermann, there’s no feeling quite like being out on the water.

“You know, you forget that you’re sick, you forget that you have an illness,” he said. “You’re actually doing something that everyone else is doing.”

The disease also hits home for former Twins player Kent Hrbek.

“My father passed away way back in 1982 with this disease,” Hrbek told FOX 21.

Hrbek has been the champion of the fundraiser for 20 years.

“Every time I speak at this event and talk with people, I hope I don’t see them next year, because that means that we don’t have to do this tournament again, and we’ve cured ALS,” Hrbek said.

A cure that for Buermann would make his dreams come true.

“Could you imagine the feeling of what it would be like to go down the hill one more time,” he said.