17 A friend died today. That phrase, all too familiar when one collects friends with ALS. What was noteworthy for me, was my reaction to it; I was enraged. An example of frontotemporal disease, the emotion-altering gift to 10% of ALS sufferers? Or an understandable reaction to this debilitating disease? Or I'm just an a**hole? You be the judge; I can't stop you anyway. My first reaction to the news was grief; tears streamed down my face, as I recalled her effervescent personality. I only met her a few years ago during an ALS event. She was magnetic; you wanted to be lucky enough to be in her orbit. If she was attractive, the added combination of her husband's devotion, and her faithful sidekick, a lovely retriever, made her impossible to resist. If I'm unflinchingly honest, I coveted her life, with or without ALS. Her husband never abandoned her, never left her to steal her last vacation, and probably cuddled her in bed toward the end. Her community came together to...
One Woman's ALS Journey