The Gift of Time
I read an article yesterday which has been on my mind. It covered the story of a woman who has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's Disease. This woman is 37 years old with children. The average life expectancy after being diagnosed with ALS is 2-5 years.
I was struck by how young she is and by how strong she has handled everything. She and her husband explain everything in an honest way to their children, and help them in preparing for her death. I cannot imagine a more difficult task.
Knowing that MS is not fatal has always been a comfort to me. While I do not know what the future holds (even those without a chronic illness don't hold crystal balls), I feel optimistic. While MS certainly has the potential to impact quality of life, the fact that it is not fatal means that we all have the gift of time. Time to enjoy today; time to plan for the future; time to benefit from current research.
Comments
It's awful to think of this ... but the uncertainty of MS seems to be the roughest part for people to grasp or get their head around. Things like cancer or ALS have some specific paths (death or treatment in the former. I've heard some MS folk wishing that they either had one of the above mentioned diseases instead of MS.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa | January 31, 2007 02:32 PM
A person should never wish they had ALS. I have MS and my Dad had ALS. ALS is a death sentence and lose of dignity, finally dying of choking and not being able to breath. Wasting away, not being able to move, a living skeleton. Sorry for the cantor but I was there, living with Dad. A person would have to have the worse dxd of MS to match the horror.
PS I am still up and walking. Thanks God
Pam S
Posted by: Pam | February 23, 2007 07:05 PM