Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

living, what's next, train, sweetness, support groups

Rick is a 62-year-old man who was diagnosed with ALS in January 2007. Currently a resident of Southwest Florida, he has lived in four other metropolitan areas, but greater Chicagoland will always be “home.” Rick is a degreed engineer, spending his career in the medical device industry. He’s had the good fortune of extensive travel throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He writes, in part, to be an ALS advocate. Additionally, it is his hope that his output will help dispel the myth that technical folk and digestible prose aren’t mutually exclusive.

In Memoriam: Rick Jobus, Feb. 6, 1958-June 19, 2022

Courtesy of Rick Jobus It is with deep sadness that we inform the ALS News Today community of the passing of our friend and treasured columnist, Rick Jobus, on June 19, 2022. Rick published the first installment of his column, “Notes From the ALS Front,”…

Don’t Let Awareness Get Lost on the Already Aware

“What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening, Why should you want to know? Don’t you mind about the future? Don’t you try to think ahead? Save tomorrow for tomorrow, Think about today instead.” — Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, “What’s the Buzz,” from the rock opera “Jesus Christ…

Simon Says, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

“‘The problem is all inside your head,’ she said to me, ‘The answer is easy if you take it logically,’ … She said, ‘It grieves me so to see you in such pain, I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again.’ I said, ‘I appreciate…

Some Serious and Silly Words With a Friend

“I know all too well it don’t come easy, The chains of the world they seem to movin’ tight. I try to walk around, if I’m stumbling so come, Tryin’ to get up but the doubt is so strong, There’s gotta be a winning in my bones. I am looking…

‘Mission Impossible’ Merits a Blockbuster Cast

“To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, … To reach the unreachable star, … This is my quest.” Vanquish ALS! Last week, my wife and I enjoyed a visit from a dear friend of ours. Interactions with him always have a quixotic effect on my psyche. Just…

The Same as It Never Was

“And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack … And you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’ … Letting the days go by, same as it ever was.” Although I’m not proud of it, my life, pre-ALS, was largely a fortunate stream of autopilot idleness.