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Frank Fansioli ND class of ‘76

is taking the ride of his life!

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You are Notre Dame

Text Box: My story with Notre Dame probably started out differently than most. I was declined admission three times which was devastating as Notre Dame was the only school I ever wanted to attend living only one and half hours away. My high school counselor, John Coggins, (Currently Dean of Students at Purdue University North Central) and an ND admission board member, Myron Busby, were both very disappointed as we planned all my high school activities and curriculum to make me a “well rounded student” exactly what Notre Dame said they were looking for. I lettered in 3 sports, earning 9 total letters and was elected to the Andrean High School Hall of Fame for Golf and Tennis. I graduated with a B+ average, was involved in a variety of charity work and even volunteered for dance committees that were not exactly my foray. After my 3 denials, I was given the opportunity to appear before the whole admission board and tell my story. I was not bashful. It must have worked as after I got home I received a call that I would be admitted as a probationary student which meant I had to keep a B average my freshman year. The rest is history and I graduated in 1976 with a higher GPA than I had in high school.  This was the first of many things that Notre Dame helped shape my life. Never give up and give it everything you’ve got at all times. To pay for my freshman year, I tarred basements in the summer, one of the worst jobs imaginable. On campus I became the manager of the pool hall. I also tried as a walk on for the golf team that had 6 returning starters. I played well enough to secure a spot and won a few tournaments and earned a monogram. The biggest event that will forever remain with me was one late Sunday night/Monday morning while walking back from the Rock to Flanner Hall where I lived I was stopped by someone who said, “Hi Jim, I just wanted to tell you how well you are doing in golf and in the classroom. We’re proud of you”. I turned and who was it but Father Hesburgh, my hero and the person who probably made the biggest impact on my life. We talked awhile and I was on cloud nine.  Money was always an issue as I had no help. During the summers of my sophomore and junior ND years, I was a caddie master where I started caddying when I was 10. I also worked a very physical job, on the midnight shift, of a loading dock for a shipping company. I literally didn’t sleep from Tuesday morning to Saturday morning all summer. But I would have done anything to keep being able to attend Notre Dame. Look at just the sports moments: The Sugar Bowl National Championship against Alabama , the ending of UCLA’s basketball streak and all the great comebacks and thrills I was able to witness as a ND student. I worked my junior and senior years at a local bar as a bartender and at 2AM was a short order cook until 3AM. I still attended all my classes and monogrammed all four years in golf and had many great experiences as a ND athlete.   After a successful corporate and entrepreneurial business career, my last job was as a small business professor for a community college here in Salem , OR. I taught for the past 16 years and helped over 600 businesses. Notre Dame taught me to be able to get along with anyone, always be honest, treat everyone with respect, and give back to your church and community as the more you give the more you get in return. At the end of the 2004, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had a radical operation done; removing my prostate and luckily it was a success. In 2005, just when I thought I’d fully recovered, the doctors diagnosed that I had Hepatitis C. How – who knows? But I went on an eleven month program, which is not only expensive but was one of the hardest stretches of my life. Only 2% of people make it through the program but I did and I was cured and pronounced fine in 2006. This brings us to 2007. In February, Melanie, my wife, & I received the worst shock you could ever want to hear. I was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease) just like Tom Watson’s caddie, Bruce Edwards. I tire easily, have a slur in my speech, have tremors in my arms legs and stomach and eat through a tube in my stomach that is filled with nutrients to keep my weight up. As you may already know, there is no cure and there is no time span as to how long you’ll last. It’s a terrible disease and unfortunately research is not funded very well. Pharmaceutical companies do not think it’s cost effective to spend millions on research on a disease that only affects 30,000 people in the US . Crazily, Oregon has a higher incidence rate than the rest of the Nation. After learning more of the disease and its terrible under funding I decided that I would totally dedicate myself to raise as much money as I possible could for as long as I could to help the scientists, researchers and doctors who are desperately seeking research grants to work on finding a cure. I’ve been lucky in life and have got to know a lot of people. I figured with my network and marketing capabilities I could come up with a low cost effective way to get the word out about his disease and people could make donations where 100% of their donations would go to research and there would be no administrative costs. Obviously, ALS recognized my commitment and elected me chairperson for the state of Oregon ALS division. So far things are going very well and I think with constant marketing we will be able to reach our goals and be able to get the grants that the people who have an the knowledge to work on a cure the money to do so. My website: www.jimculveyhouse.com has made a big difference in being able to spread the word very effectively, as well as fundraisers, letters and emails. My goal is to raise 1 million dollars+. I urge my fellow alumni to bookmark the site as updates will be done on a regular basis. The biggest favor I ask is for fellow alumni to send a short note to their own personal contact lists for their friends to take a look at the site to learn more about this dreadful disease. So my life has come full circle from the ND Admissions Board giving me a chance to now being in a position to be able to help people and their families have some hope with this dreadful, horrible under funded disease with no cure. I feel blessed to have been able to be part of the Notre Dame tradition and am extremely proud of what the university taught me emotionally and spiritually. Go Irish! Want to give to ALS Research. Click here

Jim’s ND Story