"I Consider Myself the Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth”

Seventy years ago today (June 2nd), Lou Gehrig died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was one of the greatest baseball players of all time, but the disease ended his career in 1939 and killed him less than two years later.

He was known as the "Iron Horse" because he played in an incredible 2130 straight games, a record that stood for 56 years. Gehrig still holds the record for the most Grand Slams by a Major League baseball player. He had a lifetime batting average of .340 with 1995 runs batted in and 493 home runs. Baseball fans voted him onto the first seven All-Star Teams and gave him the highest number of votes for any player selected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

He retired from baseball of July 4th, 1939 and gave his farewell speech before a packed Yankee Stadium. He described himself as "the luckiest man" alive and thanked his parents, his mother-in-law, and his wife for their support over the years. When he was finished talking, he received a standing ovation that lasted nearly two minutes.

ALS, now also known as Lou Gehrig's disease in Canada and the USA, is a fatal illness with no known cure. It attacks the nerve cells that lead to voluntary muscles and causes muscle weakness. Over time, the typical ALS patient loses his or her ability to breathe. Mechanical ventilation can prolong life. Then a "locked-in" state can occur in which the person with ALS cannot move a muscle.  Mental ability is rarely impaired, so the patient is aware of the itch that cannot be scratched or the cramped muscle that cannot be moved.

I was diagnosed with ALS in February of 2007. Several months before on a chilly fall morning I could not pick up a pencil to write my name. I was able to continue my work as a hospice chaplain for another year and a half thanks to the help of co-workers and friends. During that year and a half, I went from walking with a cane to using a walker to driving a power wheelchair. I live in a nursing home now and require twenty-four hour care. The average life expectancy for an ALS patient is three to five years. I have lived with the disease for over four years. If the three to five year prediction is true for me, I will not live to see my daughters graduate from college, escort them down the aisle at their weddings, or hold my grandchildren.

My story could be told 40,000 times by ALS patients across Canada and the United States. We are grandparents, parents, and children, ranging in age from our teens to our nineties. If we are veterans, we are twice as likely to get the disease as the general population. We may be your friends. We may be your family.



Lou Gehrig during his ceremony saying
farewell to baseball, July 4th, 1939

 We need your help. "ALS" and "Lou Gehrig's disease" are names that many people have heard but know little about. With your help, we can change that and a greater awareness of the disease can lead to more funding and a cure. Please remember these three things about ALS: (1) It is a fatal illness with no known cure, (2) it destroys muscles, and (3) everyone is at risk for getting the disease. Only ten percent or less of ALS cases are hereditary. I have no family history of the disease. It struck me quite unexpectedly. So remember ALS is "fatal," "destroys muscles," and "everyone is at risk."

May I ask you to do one other simple thing? Share this article with someone else and tell them the three things you have learned about ALS. Doing this will help you remember the three things and will spread the word farther With enough awareness and the additional funding that can result, we can find a cure for this terrible disease.

For further involvement in the fight to defeat ALS, go to the websites for the ALS Therapy Development Institute, the National ALS Associations in the United States and Canada or your local chapter of the ALS Association, and ALS Guardian Angels. Thank you.