Andrew Keller III, 51, battled ALS

By MILT KRUGMAN
Bucks County Courier Times

Andrew A. Keller III was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 2005 and he fought the illness on his terms.

His attitude was, “ "I'm going to battle it the way I want, and as long as I can. I'm going to do it my way,' ” said his sister, Connie Ejsmont of Langhorne.

She said her brother didn't want to get into a wheelchair until he had to. That happened last year.

“He was walking on crutches as long as he could, but finally on vacation in 2006 we got him a wheelchair, because it was easier for him to go from one place to another,” she said. “At first, he was a little apprehensive but grew to accept it. His wife, Kathleen, who is a nurse, after seeing how well he did on vacation, said, "Well, you are getting a wheelchair all the time now.' ”

It wasn't an electric wheelchair because he didn't want one. “ "As long as I work my arms and can push myself, that's what it will be, ' ” his sister recalled him saying.

Mr. Keller died May 27 of complications from the disease, formally called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. The incurable fatal disease affects the body's nerve cells.

He was 51 and had been living in Virginia for six years.

He was a 1973 graduate of Neshaminy High School. He was a former Parkland resident. Before his illness, he worked in the construction industry. He loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter and fisherman.

“This past Thanksgiving, he even went hunting with his brother at a private farm, and Andy was on a three-wheeler, and he loved it,” Ejsmont said. “I think right before that, he shot a deer. He looked so forward to going again, but it never came around.”


His brother, Timothy of Salisbury, Md., said, “It was the biggest deer he ever shot. It was a nine-pointer and weighed about 200 pounds. It was a long shot and he kind of crawled and hobbled to the deer — it was about 240 yards. I'll always think about Andy when I'm hunting.”

His sister said the Keller family went on summer vacations every year and remembers 20 years ago going to Ocean City, N.J.

“Andy was always the first one up in the morning, had a pot of coffee going, and he was off to the beach for some fishing as soon as the sun came up,” she said. “He just loved to fish, and when the sun went down, he would go back fishing on the beach. Andy always had the biggest and best equipment.”

One of his jobs he held when he was younger was a manager of a sporting goods department at Strawbridge's. “We always joked with him, and said he was his own best customer,” she added.

Mr. Keller was the oldest of five children — two girls and three boys,

“He was always a carefree spirit and moved to his own drum,” his sister said, “always working at different jobs and always upbeat.”