On February 13th, 2014, I was diagnosed with PLS (Primary Lateral Sclerosis), a neuromuscular degenerative disease very similar to ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). I didn't know what PLS was when the doctor gave me my diagnosis, so I began researching it that evening.

Everything I read and the images I saw were devastating. I lost my hope, my faith, my dreams, and my joy. I wanted to die. I sat in my apartment for three days thinking of ways to take my own life. While PLS is not fatal like ALS, it still wreaks havoc on your body, killing the motor neurons in the brain thereby causing the muscles to shut down -- legs, arms, hands, feet, and sometimes even the voice lose function. You may even lose the ability to eat and breathe. 

I lost my ability to walk about a year ago and am in a wheelchair full time; while it is a sexy wheelchair and does a lot of cool things, I miss my ability to walk.  Most days my hands don't want to work, so even the simplest things have become very hard, if not impossible to do. I used to be very independent but have lost much of that.  

In 2020, I was medically retired from the Air Force, so this disease also took my career, which was a big part of my identity. I had lost so much and knew I was going to lose so much more as this disease progressed. I told God I didn't know how to live this life and that I couldn't live this life. I asked Him to give me strength and courage to live in this deteriorating body and to find a way to live this life. He sent me angels on Earth to help me walk this very challenging and difficult road. 

With the strength, support, love and help from my Air Force family and my blood family, I found a way out of that dark place of wanting to die to now living with hope. Recently I joined an ALS support group where I found “my people” and where I feel comfortable and understood. We find strength in each other and share our fears, struggles, little victories, joys, and stories (sometimes funny) of living a life with a neuromuscular degenerative disease; we help each other feel not so alone. 

The team at ALS Georgia has given me a myriad of resources to help me live more independently and manage life with this disease more effectively.  Their infectious smiles and exceptional efforts to help make life easier for us have been a blessing. Every day is an exhausting struggle, but at least now I have hope. Hope that I still have a good life to live…

Will you please consider joining me to make strides in the fight against ALS and PLS? You can join our team or make a gift to support our team. Either way, with your help, we can enhance the lives of people living with ALS, every day until we find a cure.