AUGUST 4, 1974 JOE DIED FROM ALS- FINALLY 50 YEARS LATER THERE IS HOPE

 My father-in-law Joe( Giuseppe) died after a 7 year journey with ALS ( Lou Gherig's disease).

When I had been dating Adolph for several months, I found out his father had been diagnosed with ALS by a doctor at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto Spring 1967.

There was no treatment. Just care. So my mother-in-law worked full-time and came home to care for her husband. She pureed his food and provided peri-care. Adolph's Nonna Maria lived with the family so was there during the day.

At our wedding, ( May 15, 1971), Mama and I lifted him from his wheelchair holding him so we could get a good family photo.

It was a precious photo as his ALS exacerbated a few months later after a trip to Italy, August 1971 to transfer the family property to his sons.

The last three years of Joe's life he was bedridden so Mama would transfer him to his wheelchair and bring him to the dinner table. I would sit with him, holding his hand. He was kept part of the family.

Few people in his Italian community visited him nor supported my mother-in-law. I remember the ones who did. Adolph and I would visit 3 times weekly to give support to Adolph's parents.. We were there with Mama when Joe died at York Central Hospital ( now Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital).

Having a family member with a debilitating disease taught me so much. Care, compassion, the effect on a family system, seeing the person and not the disease and supporting the main caregiver, i.e. my mother-in-law.

I was exposed to others suffering from ALS over the years. The Casa Loma pizza owner. The OB who delivered my first grandchild. The mother of a favourite bank teller.. A patient who came to the surgery program periodically whose wife cared for him. A few celebrities. Friends of acquaintances.

Then the miracle. A doctor at  the University of Western Ontario- Dr. Michael Strong and his team are researching and finding inroads to this disease with hope for patients and families.

In Western News, July 2024 the work that is being researched is heading towards a cure for this disease.

The scientific nature of the disease needs to be read in full so an article and study published in the Journal BRAIN can give comprehensive details.

Finally after 50 years, hope for current patients and families.

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