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My husband, Jim, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in July of 2007. We are still working through our shock of this terrifying diagnosis. ALS, often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells. These cells, called motor neurons, reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look "thinner" as muscle tissue atrophies.
Since ALS attacks only motor neurons, the sense of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell are not affected. The victim of this disease literally becomes a prisoner in their body and can no longer communicate or even breathe on their own.

Jim has lost almost total use of his right arm and most of the strength in his left arm. His symptoms started in May of 2006 while I was in the hospital giving birth to our son, Jack, and the progression has been rapid and very aggressive. At this time Jim can no longer pick Jack up and hold him in his arms. He doesn't have the strength or the muscles needed. Jack weights 27 pounds but to Jim it's like he's 200 pounds. Jim can no longer go to Jack's daycare in the afternoons and pick him up, something he did everyday. He can no longer cook dinner in the evenings for us, another event he enjoyed. Picking up a pot or pan full of food is too heavy for him. Jim's speech is becoming thick and slurred. We are now in the process of recording his voice to put in a machine that will talk for him when the disease takes his ability to speak. Jim's respiratory system is tested often and his lung capacity is at 80 % and goes down with each visit. Most victims of ALS die within 2 to 5 years of diagnosis and mostly they die from respiratory failure. Jim has had to quit full time work and is in the process of filing for disability. In two years he has

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