Last week I was diagnosed with ALS. It was not a good week.
For those of you who don't know what ALS is, it is a muscle wasting disease that attacks the motor nerves of the body. Basically your nerves die and the voluntary muscles in your body waste away from lack of a stimulating signal.
ALS is a terminal illness. About half the people with ALS die within 3 years and about 75% die within 5 years. Less than 5% live longer than 10 years. You can find out more about ALS at www.als.ca.
I am not going to say much more today. My simple choice now is what I do with the rest of my life, just like everyone else. My choice is to live with ALS, not to die from it. Of course I will die from something, but today I choose to live.
Dear Richard, thank you for talking about your illness. I will read every issue.
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Mom
Good idea to do this Richard. I'd rather not have to read it from someone I feel so close to, but I'm interested to read about how this affects you going forward.
ReplyDeleteYou're in my thoughts all the time and I'm sorry this had to happen to you.