Derek Walton's body may feel like it's paralyzed and he's being buried alive, but the 65-year-old Barrie man isn't going down without a fight. The retired bank financier, who has been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis since May 2002, will be jumping out of a plane Saturday to raise awareness for ALS.

"I'm bringing attention to the disease because there are less than 3,000 of us in Canada and we don't have a spokesman like M.J. Fox is to Parkinson's because we don't live long enough," Walton said.

The average life expectancy for an ALS patient is 2.7 years from date of diagnosis. Walton is one of the lucky ones whose condition is deteriorating slowly. But numbness and cramping affect his hands, arms and legs and he requires a motorized scooter and walker to get around.

Walton can't do simple tasks such as open a jar, or pour a cup of coffee. Funds raised by pledges for Walton's skydive from three-kilometres will go toward the Walton Cure 4 ALS Fund to fund research at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

"I'm excited about the skydive. I want to inspire others who have disabilities to know the sky's the limit and we have to live life to its fullest," Walton said.

He will provide a matching donation to the first $50,000 raised. "I'm not a wealthy man, but you can't take it with you when you die. ALS is a forgotten disease. Being diagnosed with ALS has given me a new outlook on life.

"I almost feel as though ALS is a gift and I wouldn't be involved if I didn't have it. It's a given that people take life for granted until it's taken from you and I thought why not leave a legacy for a future generation," Walton said.

ALS -- also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- took the New York Yankee star's life at the height of his career at the age of 38 in 1941.

The disease insidiously spreads through the body, until there is total paralysis, but with normal brain function. In the end, patients are known to drown in their own mucus.