Karen's Kats

Karen Carlsen was diagnosed with ALS in July of 2011. Her initial symptoms started with slurred speech in October of 2010. At first she assumed it was from some dental work. However, over the following weeks and months the slurred speech got progressively worse. Looking back now Karen realized she had other speech issues months before that and just attributed it all to Oklahoma allergies and long hours at work.

Karen left home at age 17 by joining the U.S. Navy to see the world. And that is just about what happened. She was trained as an Aviation Electronics Technician and went on to becoming a Naval Aircrewmen.  She was only the third female flying the Navy’s EC-130Q aircraft out of NAS Agana, Guam. During her Navy career Karen also flew in reworked (depot) 2 seat models of the A-4, P-3, and the finally in the E-6A aircraft. Her travels took her around the Pacific Rim from the Philippians, South Korea, Okinawa, Japan, up and down the west and east coast of the US and Canada. Additionally, Karen traveled to most of the countries of South America, several countries on the west coast of Africa, and many of the countries in Europe – too many to list here. It was her final tour of duty in the E-6 aircraft that brought her to Oklahoma where she retired. After retiring Karen completed her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma.  Boomer Sooner! Shortly after that Karen landed a job working for The Boeing Company.

Karen has always enjoyed sports like racquetball, golfing, softball, swimming, jogging and hiking out in nature. Karen even earned her Black belt in Okinawan Shorin Ryu karate.

Shortly after moving to Oklahoma, Karen became a born-again Christian. Her faith in God and the saving grace of Jesus has made all the difference in the world and it is helping Karen keep a positive outlook through this diagnosis and all that comes with it. 

Because Karen wants to make a difference, and make her last years as meaningful as her early years, she has chosen ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) to support. All of the proceeds generated from this site and future events will benefit ALS TDI based in Cambridge, MA. The vision of ALS TDI: an urgent end to ALS. They are the #1 nonprofit biotechnology organization dedicated to developing effective treatments for ALS.

ALS is considered an “orphan disease” because it affects too few individuals to attract investment by pharmaceutical companies. ALS TDI is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit research center focused exclusively on developing therapeutic treatments for ALS.

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