Columns

A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me, “What are you going to do for your birthday?” “We’ll just have a family dinner and play games,” I said. “That’s all I want.” When my husband, Todd, and I were married, we might have gone on a weekend getaway or out…

For a while now, I’ve been keeping tabs on the new technologies of virtual assistants, voice activation, and artificial intelligence (AI), especially its potential benefits for the ALS community. Some of it I’ve tried, with iffy results. Others, like AI, are on my wish list to help erase ALS…

A family friend visited last week, prompting a trip down memory lane to the days long before my husband, Todd, had ALS. My teenage daughter and her boyfriend sat on the couch behind us, while Todd, our friend Abby, and I sat around the kitchen table sharing memories…

Throughout our relationship, my late husband, Jeff, was the partner who most enjoyed taking care of people and things. He built wooden furniture and personal gifts, tended to flowers, and prepared meals from scratch. He got a great deal of satisfaction from going above and beyond for people. Jeff was…

Did you know that more than 16% of ALS patients have served in the military? Are you aware that veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS as those who haven’t been in the military? If not staggering, those facts are compelling. Many theories have been put…

Eighteen years ago when expecting my daughter, I decided to become a stay-at-home mom. Mothering a newborn was a joyful season, but it was also exhausting and isolating. Another new mom in my community who’d experienced that same isolation after leaving the workforce started a family club that offered an…

I’ll admit I often worry if I’m being productive with my time and spending it wisely. That’s always been important to me, but it intensified the day I was told I had ALS. That’s when I heard the words “average life expectancy of two to five years” and left…

Since my husband, Todd, is paralyzed from ALS, he can’t help with household chores and maintenance anymore. That puts much of it on me, but that’s also difficult for him because he loved many of those tasks. He enjoyed his career, which included work in marketing, finance, and manufacturing,…

Six years ago, I was a new patient columnist for ALS News Today and wrote a column about how planning ahead helps me dine out with ease. But since that time, my ALS has evolved — and so have my plans. Instead of a rollator, I now…

When I took my son to the doctor for his sports physical, the nurse went through a checklist of health history questions. The exchange took an unexpected turn when she asked about my husband’s health. “Is Dad healthy?” “No. He has ALS.” The nurse glanced at her computer screen.