Willkommen! » friends but also to his racing team

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Jay Fishman finds it more comfortable these days to use a wheelchair to get around, and has begun getting some help breathing from a portable ventilator.The former Travelers CEO says hes in the final innings of his battle with Lou Gehrigs disease, the terminal neurodegenerative condition also called ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But Fishman says he has no plans to slow down.He still goes to work almost daily in his role as board chairman -- even though he stepped down in December -- and is preparing for next months Travelers Championship PGA Tour golf tournament at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell. He and the company are using this years tournament as a megaphone to raise money and awareness about ALS.If I contemplated a retirement, it was going to be different from this, but it wasnt going to be sitting on a beach, he said in an interview with The Associated Press. I always wanted to stay active and involved.Fishman has been doing that through philanthropy.Hes helped fund a national project that is gathering information from hundreds of ALS patients to try and better understand the variations of the disease and how to fight it.Hes raised money for a Boston Childrens Hospital project that banks the voices of ALS patients. When they lose the ability to speak, they can use computers that will speak for them in their own voices. He and his wife recently gave $3 million to fund a University of Pennsylvania project that helps patients with at-home respiratory care.You can be a skeptic and say, `Well, the only reason hes doing it is that he has the disease, Fishman said. The answer is, `Yeah, of course. If not me than who? If Im not going to reflect all the good things that have happened to me in my life and find a way to plow that back to help people deal with what I personally know is a horrible disease, then shame on me.Fishman is under no illusions that what hes doing will save his life. What he is trying to do, he said, is move the needle toward a cure and make the lives of other ALS patients a little better. Thats where the golf tournament comes in.At Fishmans behest, the tournament, which donates 100 percent of its net proceeds to charity, has made New Britains Hospital for Special Care, which treats most of the ALS patients in Connecticut, as its primary charitable beneficiary this year.This is going to provide us with additional funding to help hire more people in the clinical operation and also to expand our clinical trials program, said Dr. Kevin Felice, the hospitals chief of neuromuscular medicine.The tournament also is providing tickets to patients and their families. They will get valet parking and tournament officials are also building a large, wheelchair-friendly tent for them to watch the action and providing special dining options to accommodate those who have trouble swallowing -- a common problem for ALS patients.Players, caddies and tournament officials will wear red commemorative ribbons reading, Carry On, something Fishman is known to say when talking about the disease.Once Jay announced what he was battling, it made perfect sense for us to partner with them to fight this disease, said Nathan Grube, the tournaments director.The Travelers has already raised an additional $1 million for the Bruce Edwards Foundation, an ALS charity, by selling tables to a dinner during the tournament featuring a talk by golfing legend Tom Watson. Edwards, who was from Wethersfield and Watsons long-time caddie, died of the disease.The Travelers Championships previous primary charity, Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children with serious illnesses, will continue to be a charitable partner, and more than 140 charities will benefit from money raised, which last year totaled $1.5 million. Fourteen percent of the proceeds will go to the Hospital for Special Care.Fishman, who was diagnosed in 2014, says the progression of the disease has forced him to work at home on Fridays, but he plans to stay on the job until he can no longer contribute.The pleasure I get now is from understanding that my efforts are at least helping other people, he said. I make sure I finish each day with a martini or a glass of wine and thank God for giving me another day. Byron Murphy Cardinals Jersey . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. Kurt Warner Cardinals Jersey .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. http://www.thecardinalsshoponline.com/Youth-Pat-Tillman-Cardinals-Jersey/ . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Andy Isabella Youth Jersey . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Adrian Wilson Jersey . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- Waves, wind and darkness hampered the ocean search off Hawaii for a Chinese man reported missing while attempting to set a sailing record, the U.S. Coast Guard pilot who was the missions air commander said Thursday.It was pretty frustrating not to find him, not to hear him, Lt. Ben Powers said at Air Station Barbers Point in west Oahu, the morning after the Coast Guard called off its search for Guo Chuan. The hardest thing we do is search for a person in the water because its a huge ocean.Guo, 50, was attempting to set a sailing record from San Francisco to Shanghai. The search was suspended after a U.S. Navy crew from the USS Makin Island went aboard Guos 97-foot trimaran about 620 miles northwest of Oahu and found only his life jacket.As one of the pilots of one of the HC-130 Hercules planes that participated in the search, Powers spent hours scanning the ocean for Guo through 4-to-6-foot waves. There was no moon, he said, so illumination was low even with night-vision goggles.Rescuers radioed Guo every 15 to 30 minutes, Powers said. There was no response.When the persons in the water basically the only thing above the water is the persons head, Powers said. So thats really what were looking for -- something the size of a human head from an aircraft from 300 to 700 feet.Because Guos boat was well-tracked, rescuers had a good idea where he fell into the water, Powers said.Guo was a professional mariner with a deep passion for sailing. Our thanks to our Navy partners whho helped us search for this vessel in a timely manner so far from shore in an attempt to locate Mr.dddddddddddd (Guo) Chuan. Our deepest condolences go out not only to his family and friends but also to his racing team and the sailing community, said Capt. Robert Hendrickson, who directed the Coast Guards search.Guos sailboat, the Qingdao China, is adrift, and its main sail has been taken down, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard says it broadcast a warning to mariners to beware of the drifting boat.Guos racing team plans to recover the sailboat, the Coast Guard said.Guo was the first Chinese person to sail around the world in 2013, according to his website, guochuanracing.com.Guo left San Francisco on Oct. 18 to challenge the solo nonstop trans-Pacific world record. The current speed record for that journey is 21 days, and he was trying to sail from San Francisco to Shanghai within 20 days, the website says.In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Chinas consulate general in Los Angeles had alerted the U.S. Coast Guard in Hawaii when it learned that Guo could not be reached. Spokesman Lu Kang said Chinese diplomats had helped in the coordination of the search and continued to monitor the situation.---Follow Jennifer Sinco Kelleher at http://www.twitter.com/JenHapa. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jennifer-sinco-kelleher ' ' '