KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Having a childhood friend affected by Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Mandopop singer Wang Leehom has decided to donate all proceeds of his latest song to aid his friend and research on the disease.
Chinese portal China Times reported that since the song was released last month, it had reached the number one spot at several of China's radio stations.
On Youtube, the song, Forever Your Dad, has been viewed over 600,000 times since its release.
The portal added that following the good news, Wang also called on his fans to help those with the condition.
Also known as motor neurone disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a disease that causes the death of neurons controlling voluntary muscles.
According to ALS Therapy Development Institute, the song was written by Wang's friend David Neufeglise, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2017.
After being diagnosed, Neufeglise started to write things down to tell his three daughters that he may not be around to watch them grow up.
“Eventually part of his writings for his daughters began to morph into a poem,” said the institute.
Currently, Neufeglise has started taking progression-slowing medication, entered into a clinical trial for stem-cell treatments, and built a wheelchair-accessible addition onto his home.
Wang and Neufeglise were middle and high school classmates.
