i'm sorry. i know what ALS is like, and being affected by it sucks...

Thanks....I know quite a bit about it due to Jon Blais, and then just a few days ago my fiancee learned about a family friend that passed away last summer from ALS.

For a disease that it seems not many know about it certainly seems to be all around us, huh?

I totally agree. I am hosting one of the spin-a-thons on February 10 in honor of the blazeman and to increase funds for the fight against ALS.

Please host your own or donate for the cause! There is now a paypal option on www.waronals.com to make donating easier and there is a matching program for the SAT up to $10,000...so raising $10,000 nets $20,000 for the fight against ALS!

there are quite a few ST'ers who are committed to The Blazemans's War on ALS. please contact us if you want to get involved. Our vision is to turn Team Blazeman into a Team in Training like fund raising machine. I call on all ST'ers who care about this fight to help us raise funds to eradicate this disease.

either contact me or Mike Ricci about this. my email is in my profile.

I had no idea how awful this disease is, how many people it effects and what a death sentence it actually is.

I'm so sorry about your friend's diagnosis. If you want to do something about it...please join us in the War!

BTW...for those who don't know...Jon Blais was named Competitor of The Year by Competitor magazine and will receive his award in San Diego on February 3rd. He promises to drop a bomb in his speech...will try to post it after he makes it.

Please support the War on ALS!!!

BUMP

Thanks for the bump.

As I'm tossing and turning last night, thoughts pop into my head about what my friend/boss will be going through. This is a big man in every sense of the word, perhaps 6'3" or so and tipping the scales at close to 300 lbs. He played football at USC, had a cup of coffee with the 49ers and played a couple of seasons in the old USFL. He's also a very sharp and savvy businessman with an even drier sense of humor than my own.

And over the course of the next who-knows-how-long that behemoth of a body will be slowly ravaged by this disease and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

His mind will be as sharp and clear as ever, but his body will slowly fail him until....it just won't work anymore.

Mike -

Please contact us at www.spinforals.com. We can direct you to a few groups for your boss/friend. Try to et involved with a local spin-a-thon or create one of your own.

The group we worked with last year was ALS TDF in Boston. I've also worked for ALS Les Turner Foundation. Most of it because I met Jon Blais in Kona.

Mike I am so sorry for your friend/boss One of my close friends moms just died 2 weeks ago from ALS and the last 2 years have been very hard for everyone that knew her. She had an amazing spirit and is greatly missed by all who knew her. Good Luck

Two good friends of mine went through this .....to the end. It is a cruel disease.
I will try and do the spin a thon .
My thoughts and prayers are with your friends

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Push your Passion!

Sorry to hear about this. So many diseases and nothing but sadness and frustration. My grandmother died of ALS 20 years ago and it still haunts me. I met Jon Blais in Kona and it saddens me greatly how different he has become since last year. I am planning on participating in any events that are in reasonable driving distance from Colorado.

ALS still gives me the willies, around six years ago a my doc said I might have has it and sent me for all kinds of tests, as it turned out I had a problem with my cervical vertebrae compressing a nerve, fortunately it became a simple course of therapy both physical and of injections into my spine (nasty in themselves)
but i still shudder when I think of the doc saying we think you have.......

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Adam Savage

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. It is a terrible disease.

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__________________________________________________
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain

Yeah -this one scares me silly - I have lost family on both sides to it. My maternal grandfather was 7 years slow and debilitating, may fraternal aunt died quickly, probably more just giving up when her husband moved her out of the house to an assisted care facility. Given they are unsure of the genetic component of this disease, it is a quiet terror for me. I also had a friend diagnosed in her early 30s with it. She managed to keep dancing for three years - what guts, but eventaully was wheechair bound.

With your friend being so young, this could be a long process - a la Stephen Hawking. Just something to prepare for. Also, consider what help you can give to the family that supports him. It will be difficult for them as he loses mobility, and if you volunteer to help with him for a day a week ,such as getting him bathed, clothed, fed, or if that is too much for you to personally handle (no offense meant - some people can not bring themselves to do this and that is OK), take on other household chores - go do the shopping, cut the lawn, anything to give them a break if they are keeping him at home, they will be terribly appreciative. They face a real challenge of being the support for this individual on a day to day process - it will be trying and exhausting for them.

I feel for you.

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Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements

Wow - what a coincidence. A guy I work with just yesterday gave me a copy of a few pages of a book entitled "Healthy Aging." On pps 225-26 he highlighted the following.

"At the Integrative Medicine Clinic at the University of Arizona, I have seen a number of men in their 30s with this devastating diagnosis, an unusually young age group of the onset of ALS. All had a history of participating in extreme sports and competitive, ultra-athletic events, and all were extraordinarily lean."

Is it this book?
http://www.amazon.com/...?ie=UTF8&s=books

I saw this book and considered picking it up. I am curious about this connection. After talking to Jon Blais and a few other "young" guys (30-55) who have ALS all were very active and very thin.

It will be interesting to see how marathoning, Ironman racing, adventure racing effects our long term health. What is another interesting fact are people who are in their late 50s - 80s who seem to have been dipped in the "fountain of youth" with their IM racing; Joe B, Madonna B., Mike Adamle, Bob Scott, Bob McKeague are a few who I know who certainly don't "look and act their age". (I hope they never do! I like them as they are!)

thank you.

My wife's uncle, who was our next door neighbor passed away from ALS in July. He fought ALS for over two years. It began in his throat rather than the arms or legs, as it usually does. I watched him go from 5 feet 10 inches and probably around 170 to a skeleton, weighing 72 pounds when he finally died. We all knew it was going to happen but it did not make it easier when he did pass away. My wife had just left town a day before and I was just getting the kids in the car for us to leave for the airport to join her in Dallas when another uncle came and got me, he asked me to come over and please check on him before I left, they did not think he was breathing. I was the one that got to tell my wife's aunt that he was gone and I also had to call their son and let him know that his father had passed away. Not an enjoyable experience. After seeing how he suffered, it really makes you wonder why more research has not been done for this awful disease.

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Mike

Thanks for the suggestions and replies everyone.

It's a strange situation---we're in a meeting yesterday and one of the manufacturer's reps was talking about an upcoming "strategy meeting" where we'll get a glimpse from the factory side what the product and our dealership could and should look like in the next 10 years....and I shot a glance over to Eric (the recently diagnosed) and he kind of chuckled and said "the next 10 years, huh?..."

Anyway, I'll post from time to time with updates....keep him and his family in your prayers.

Yes, that is the book.

After seeing how he suffered, it really makes you wonder why more research has not been done for this awful disease.

As I posted in another thread, it seems that the general population doesn't know much about ALS yet it seems that it's all around us.

At least with cancer, you can "see" it, treat it and in many cases control it, stave it off or even cure it. With ALS....today is as good as it gets.