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Hometown, state: Muncie, Ind.
Age: 47
Family (spouse/partner; child, grandchildren): My two grown children and one son, 11.
Hobbies/Interests: Reading, computers, blogging, music, genealogy, advocacy, politics, current events, digital photography.
Favorite quote: “People are just about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
Date of ALS diagnosis: August 2005
Tell us about your life before ALS: Before ALS I wore many “hats” – mother, advocate for my special-needs children, singer, childbirth educator, fire fighter, paramedic, air medical crew member, nurse, avid reader and friend. I returned to college in 1999 and finished my AS (associate of science) in 2000 and BS (bachelor of science) in 2002. I completed my associate degree in nursing just over one month after I was diagnosed with ALS. I continued to work as a flight paramedic until 15 months after my ALS diagnosis. I’m a single mother and my youngest special-needs child still lives at home.
Tell us about your life with ALS: ALS has taught me never to confuse your career with your life. It has taught me that what is really important in life is “relationships,” and that all those other things that we fill our time with can be taken away in a heartbeat. ALS has taught me that the value of a person isn’t what he or she can produce or what they “do” …it is who he or she IS.
Do you have a “life motto” or profound words to live by? “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”
Has there been an “aha!” moment or a specific turn of events that has helped you live with ALS? My “life motto” has changed the way I look at ALS in my life. Before those words, I viewed ALS as a THIEF that took my “life” away. Now I realize that I still have my life and that looking back at what “once was” only keeps me from living NOW and moving forward.
Tell us how ALS has brought new significance to any aspect of your life — family, attitude, hobbies/passions, career, etc.: ALS cost me my passion – my career (medicine) – but it has given me a new realization of the power of love, the vision of hope and the faithfulness of my Heavenly Father.
Is there anything else about you and/or ALS that you want to share with people who read your story? All three of my children have Fragile X syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. As a single mother with a disability, I struggle with the logistics of daily life, and this struggle has given me more compassion for the myriad of people who daily fight much more difficult battles than I. I hope that I can increase awareness of the needs of the disabled by sharing my story.
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