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.
“Brute Force and Ignorance” That is the title of a song, written by the late Irish bluesman Rory Gallagher. It also is a fair depiction of the human, knee-jerk reaction to a seemingly unsolvable problem, such as banging on the television to address erratic reception or kicking the…
“I get by with a little help from my friends.” Or, in my case, A LOT. Two weeks ago, I discussed the ALS village. Last week, I wrote that I’ve survived 12 years since ALS darkened my doorstep. The latter is not possible without the former.
I have ALS. That awareness has prompted a series of rapid-fire questions. While many of us would describe existence as being comprised of multiple chapters, I now have two distinctly different lives. Prior to ALS, I had led an unremarkable life largely characterized by good fortune. Some of…
“It takes a village to raise a child.” That African proverb is a testimony to the primary, secondary, and even cameo influences that factor into the sustaining, nurturing, and ennobling of a human from infancy until independent adulthood. When done properly, a gradual lessening…
It’s complicated. That trite, two-word sentence has become, in the age of social media, the go-to characterization of any couple whose pairing defies analysis. In the best case, after a period in which their union damages one (or both) of them, the parties agree to go their separate…
“Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” —Mark Twain, in a letter to The New York Sun I spent the better part of November under the weather. I am always taken aback by the “uncommon” havoc the “common” cold can wreak on someone with the deficit baseline…
Renowned physicist and author Stephen Hawking, perhaps the most famous ALS sufferer after Lou Gehrig, had his final book posthumously published on Oct. 16. In “Brief Answers to the Big Questions,” one of the answers Hawking offers is that there is…
“… And up through the ground come a bubblin’ crude.” Like Jed Clampett of “Beverly Hillbillies” fame, the ALS Association in 2014 found itself in the unexpected circumstance of commanding assets beyond its wildest dreams. The national display of generosity, hope, and compassion dubbed the ice…
The 2012 comedy “Ted” contained a joke made at the expense of the movie’s villain. The joke, as expressed by a teddy bear come to life, was: “From one man to another, I hope you get Lou Gehrig’s disease.” This alarmed some ALS patients and advocates, who…
In the Ken Burns documentary, “Baseball,” during the episode titled “Eighth Inning: A Whole New Ballgame,” comedian Billy Crystal mentions in passing the (I assume fictional) name Al Smenglevitz. Years later, I co-opted the character as a coping mechanism — an alter ego. Only, I simply refer to…
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