Rob Vigorito was in Hawaii preparing for his sixth appearance at the Ford Ironman World Championship in October 2005 when he first heard the name Jon Blais.

“Okay, well, 1,800 people are going to do the Ironman,” Vigorito thought to himself when he first heard the news about the Seekonk native’s plans to do the coveted race in Kailua-Kona. What’s so special about Jon Blais?

Then Vigorito learned that the 34-year-old special-education teacher had been diagnosed several months earlier with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressively debilitating disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

As a neuroscience researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and as someone who had personally endured the grueling 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike race and 26.2-mile run, Vigorito immediately understood the significance of what Blais was attempting to do.

 After finishing the triathlon that day, Vigorito, 61, hung around the finish line to cheer on the others that followed. Shortly before midnight — about 16½ hours after the starter’s gun had been fired — he heard the announcer shouting that Blais was on his way in. Saying before the race that he was determined to make it across the finish line even if he had to be rolled across it, Blais dropped to the ground and, indeed, completed the final few feet just that way — becoming the first athlete with ALS ever to complete the Ironman World Championship.

 “That wild and crazy guy rolled across the doggone finish line,” Vigorito said earlier this week from his home in Columbia, Md. “I said, ‘Holy cow, this is amazing.’.”

Vigorito arranged to meet Blais after the Ironman, and through e-mails and phone calls, the two developed a deep and meaningful friendship in the months that followed.

Blais shared his story with Vigorito, explaining that he had essentially been given a death sentence and expressing his frustration that 70 years after legendary Yankees baseball player Lou Gehrig — for whom the disease is commonly known — was diagnosed with ALS there is still no cure.

He also told Vigorito of his plans to spend the time he had left creating awareness about ALS and raising money for research. Known to his friends as “The Blazeman,” Blais had officially declared a war on ALS, mobilizing an army of fellow triathletes he called “Team Blazeman Warriors.”

“He’d done a lot of homework,” said Vigorito, who assisted Blais and his family with the creation of the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. “He knew ALS inside and out, and he was on a mission.

“Jon was the kind of guy that once you met him, you were hooked. I saw the spiritual side of Jon, and I was impressed with his commitment to the cause. He was not going to leave this earth without a fight. Clearly, Jon’s desire was to make a difference in a disease that no one knew much about.”

Among their many conversations, Vigorito talked to Blais about the possibility of donating his brain and spinal column to the NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders at the University of Maryland. Blais, who repeatedly said that the work he was doing as a “Blazeman Warrior” was so others may live, immediately jumped at the opportunity.

On May 28, 2007 — the day after Blais lost his battle with ALS — Vigorito flew to Ft. Myers, Fla. where Blais spent his last days and personally harvested his brain, spinal column and other nerve tissue.

“It was difficult,” said Vigorito, who wore his 2005 Ironman finisher’s shirt and medal under his surgical gown as a tribute to his friend, “first because I have a relationship with this individual, but more importantly knowing what he was as an athlete — this fit, robust, muscular human being. And now to see the final stage and what ALS left him with — no one should have to suffer like that.”

Thanks to family, friends and fellow triathletes, Blais’ mission continues. Since its formation three years ago, the Blazeman Foundation for ALS has raised nearly $600,000 for various ALS awareness programs, as well as research and education related to the disease.

Team Blazeman now boasts 182 Blazeman Warriors, including some of the top triathletes in the world, who compete at various endurance events in Blais’ honor and often perform the signature “Blazeman roll” across the finish line.

 “Jon was a realist in every sense of the word,” said Blais’s father Bob, who now volunteers at triathlons with his wife Mary Ann. “But I think he would be proud of the sport he loved most and of the triathletes for answering his call.”

The World Triathlon Corporation now reserves bib No. 179 — the number that Blais wore at the 2005 Ironman — at its races for athletes competing for inspirational causes.

Vigorito will be wearing bib No. 179 when he takes the starting line July 12 for the Amica Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island, a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run from Narragansett to Providence.

 “I love New England, I always have,” said Vigorito, a native of East Haven, Conn., who has family throughout Southeastern New England and friends in Middletown. “It’s a wonderful time to come up there, and it will make it even more special to do the event in Jon’s name. It’s going to be tough, but I’m sure I’ll feel Jon’s energy and spirit and drive. I’m sure Jon is going to be talking to me and kicking my butt when I need it most.”

For information about the Blazeman Foundation for ALS and Team Blazeman, log on to http://www.waronals.com.

Read about Blais’ battle with ALS at http://www.alswarriorpoet.com.

Watch a feature on Blais that appeared on NBC’s coverage of the 2005 Ironman World Championship at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrEUyIiApus