Columns

Last year, while serving as a moderator for the ALS News Today Forums, I added more than 355 people to my circle of ALS friends. And in the short time since the launch of the forums, it has become a trusted space where members can ask questions, share…

My Facebook friends post accomplishments like completing a 5K run. If I were to post my accomplishments, I would include taking my husband, Todd, to my daughter’s school concert. Going on a simple family outing with ALS can be challenging. With about 200 inches of snow falling annually, traveling is…

I tell potential customers that my Christmas wreaths will last until Easter. That usually gets a chuckle and often a sale. At a holiday craft fair, a gray-haired man topped my claim: “I bought one from you last year, and I just threw it out last week.” Longevity is an…

Upon the death of someone with ALS, a common theme is often invoked. Words such as heroic or courageous may be chosen to characterize the deceased. The disease’s course is invariably described as a battle or fight. The implication is that ALS is a brutal and unscrupulous enemy.

If my husband, Todd, did not have ALS, there would still be someone else with ALS. And there’s cancer. Childhood illness. Tragic accidents. But winter has arrived on the Keweenaw Peninsula, and I’m compelled to get out and delight in God’s creation. Would He have made nature so beautiful…

Whether I’m at a social gathering or in the middle of a lighthearted chat in the grocery store, there’s no doubt about it — people can say the darndest things! This is particularly true when they’re stymied over what to say to me about my ALS. Don’t get me wrong.

As I approached the one-year anniversary of my husband, Todd’s, ALS diagnosis, I wrote in my journal: “I want to be happy, healed, and whole again. But the grief that I am experiencing is not something one can easily get over.” I read books such as “Getting…

It’s Thanksgiving Day tomorrow in the United States. Unsurprisingly, the evolution of its celebration has been shaped by our nation’s cultural dynamism.  Rooted in religious ritual imported by the initial European settlers, it was institutionalized by the constitutional congress, with specific…

Recently, I had one of those happy-sad moments. It was brought on simply because next week’s ALS clinic visit was rescheduled for January. I was like a kid waking up to snow and no school. Yippee, a free day! And yet a bit sad, because I’d have to wait…

After my husband Todd’s ALS diagnosis, he said, “We need to sell the house and move near your parents.” He anticipated that their day-to-day support in rural northern Michigan would be more important than being near an ALS clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We appreciated the convenience of seeing Todd’s…