As she waited to learn her mothers diagnosis what had caused Carol Gardula to fall for no reason, and to have an increasingly weak left foot Sara OHare had one prayer.

I kept thinking, Oh, my God, I hope it isnt Parkinsons, OHare, a National Parkinson Foundation fundraiser recalled last week. Then, when we found out what she had, all I could think of was, Oh, my God, I wish it had been Parkinsons.

Instead, Carol Gardulas doctor had just told the Wilmette resident and her husband Bob that Carol had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS.

Bob Gardula sums up his reaction to the diagnosis bluntly: Its just pure devastation, thats what it is.

The scientific label is uninformative to lay people. So is the name Lou Gehrigs disease, which is more apt to conjure images of baseballs famous Iron Man than to illuminate the ailment that killed him.

Move past the names, and ALS is unmasked as a merciless disease that erodes the brain stem and spinal cord motor neurons that deliver electrical impulses from the brain to voluntary muscles throughout the body. As they deteriorate, so do the voluntary muscles.

ALS doesnt dull the mind. People with the disorder remain aware as they lose strength and the ability to walk, to move and, eventually, to breathe.

Right now, ALS is 100 percent fatal, swiftly so. Complete paralysis usually occurs within two to five years of diagnosis. According to figures from the Les Turner ALS Foundation and the ALS Foundation, more than 5,600 Americans are diagnosed with the disease every year, and about 35,000 people are living with it at any time. Only 50 percent live five years past their diagnosis; perhaps 10 percent will survive 10 years or more. Most will die between two to five years after learning they have the disease.

Slightly more men than women contract it, and people are most likely to be diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 70.

Carol, who is 67, said last week she was grateful her diagnosis was relatively swift.

See the article here:

Love, family, spirituality help in ALS journey