Columns

The weeks immediately following my late husband’s ALS diagnosis were the scariest and most unsettling of my life. Even with Jeff’s physical symptoms pointing toward ALS, nothing could’ve prepared us to actually hear those words when they were delivered in a windowless examination room in Baltimore, in November 2018.

It’s hard to live in limbo with the slow but relentless progression of my husband Todd’s ALS. A couple years after Todd was diagnosed, he went on permanent disability from his work. He could still speak and had the time, so he visited my great-uncle nearly every day…

If you’ve been keeping up with my recent columns, you’ve likely figured out that even though I have ALS, I maintain a glass-half-full attitude. So, today, I thought you’d enjoy learning how I deal with what has been a constant challenge for me: plastic bottles. The trouble with plastic…

After decades of classic cross-country skiing, I realized that the groomed track is too wide for me, and it got me thinking how difficult it is to find single solutions to help everybody with ALS. We had springlike weather this past week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and I got…

The phrase “stay in your lane” is often posted on signs to help motorists drive through a construction zone. It’s also a basic rule when swimming side by side in a race with other competitors. In my life with ALS, I use one of the other meanings of the…

When I was growing up, many of my neighbors participated in the U.S. Naval Academy Sponsor Program, as we lived just a few miles from the school’s campus in Annapolis, Maryland. Under the program, local families “adopted” midshipmen, offering a home away from home to the students, who could come…

“I can’t believe I could’ve had longer footrests this whole time,” my husband, Todd, said this morning as he peered down on his wheelchair while I transferred him using our overhead lift. “I’ve been so nervous about my toes, especially now that I’m having such a hard time driving.” Todd…

I’ve been living with ALS for the past 15 years, and although it’s filled my days with life lessons and moments of gratitude, there have also been many twists of irony. One of the biggest ironies? I sometimes feel out of place in a community that’s so warm and…

It’s become exceedingly difficult for my husband, Todd, to leave our home now that he’s in an advanced stage of ALS. His neck is weak because of disease progression, and he uses noninvasive ventilation nearly all the time. To make matters worse, we live in a northern climate with…

Lines from a Shania Twain song have been running through my head the past few days: “You’re still the one I run to/ The one that I belong to/ You’re still the one I want for life.” The lyrics remind me of how my husband, Todd, and I…