“It’s with an extremely heavy heart that I must share the news of my mother’s passing,” the Carlo’s Bakery owner captioned a throwback photo with his mother. “She left for heaven this morning, surrounded by the family. This is a difficult time for all of us and I do ask for your patience and respect while we let this sink in. Her battle with ALS has ended, she is no longer suffering and I hope she’s dancing to ‘I Will Survive’ with my dad right now.”
After Mary was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease, which affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, Valastro launched the Mama Mary Foundation to raise money and awareness for those affected by ALS.
Valastro previously opened up to PEOPLE about his mother’s life with Lou Gehrig’s in 2014, when he participated in the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge.”
“The worst part about ALS is that one day you’re able to brush your teeth, then you’ll never be able to brush your teeth again. One day you’re able to walk – you’re never going to walk again,” he said at the time.“I’ve seen the most independent, lively person that I’ve ever met in my life — I mean, she was just like a ball of energy — reduced to not being able to do anything for herself. And I think that’s the part that kills her the most because she was the matriarch. She did so many things for everyone.”
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE