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Durham Family Combats ALS With Benefit Concert

After Phil Freelon was diagnosed with ALS, he decided to start a foundation with his wife Nnenna Freelon to support ALS research.
Sufis Doucet
After Phil Freelon was diagnosed with ALS, he decided to start a foundation with his wife Nnenna Freelon to support ALS research.

For Durham-based architect Phil Freelon, 2016 was a year of triumphs and setbacks. Freelon was the lead architect for the National Museum of African American History & Culture and celebrated the museum’s opening in Washington D.C. last fall. But months before the opening, Freelon was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.Host Frank Stasio speaks with architect Phil Freelon and his wife, Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, about living with ALS and their efforts to combat the neurological disease. Freelon and his wife, Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, decided to start a foundation to support ALS research. The couple hosts a concert tonight at the Carolina Theatre in Durham at 7 p.m. The event is called “Design A World Without ALS Benefit Concert.” Host Frank Stasio talks with Phil and Nnenna Freelon about living with ALS and efforts to combat the neurological disease.​

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Charlie Shelton